March 21 (Bloomberg) — Michigan's gay marriage ban was held unconstitutional by a U.S. judge, making it the 21st state where same-sex unions are deemed legal and triggering a bid by its attorney general to freeze the ruling during an appeal.
U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman in Detroit said the state's voter-enacted 2004 constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex unions violates the U.S. constitution's guarantees of equal protection. He issued a decision today two weeks after concluding of a nine-day trial in Detroit federal court.
Friedman, appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, criticized the state's stance that its opposition reflected the preference of the electorate.
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"In attempting to define this case as a challenge to 'the will of the people,'" the judge said, "state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people."
The decision follows similar rulings this year by federal judges in Oklahoma and Virginia, and a December decision by a U.S. judge in Utah. All have been put on hold while they are appealed.
Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said he would immediately seek a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
"The citizens of Michigan recognized that diversity in parenting is best for kids and families because moms and dads are not interchangeable," the attorney general said in a statement. "Their will should stand."
Legal
Michigan joins 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that permit same-sex couples to marry, in addition to the three states where such unions are legal, but stayed. Federal judges in Kentucky and Tennessee have ruled that state bans on recognizing out-of-state gay marriages are also unconstitutional. The Kentucky ruling is delayed pending appeal.
The Michigan case was filed by nurses Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer who sought to marry and adopt each other's children.
The court's record can't fully convey the sacrifices DeBoer and Rowse have made "to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples," Friedman said.
The trial started Feb. 25 and ended on March 7.
The case is DeBoer v. Snyder, 12-cv-10285, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit).
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