Judge puts Alabama same-sex marriages on
hold after striking down ban
Send a link to a friend
[January 27, 2015]
By Colleen Jenkins
(Reuters) - Same-sex couples in Alabama
will have to put their wedding plans on hold after a federal judge
issued a two-week stay on her ruling that struck down the state's laws
banning gay marriages, including those performed legally in other
states.
|
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange also filed an appeal with
the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday seeking a longer stay
until the U.S. Supreme Court rules later this year whether states
can ban gay marriage.
"The issue on appeal is a serious one, and it deserves the review of
a higher court before the injunction becomes effective," Strange
argued in the appeal, stating that he disagreed that the equal
protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
requires states to recognize same-sex marriage.
U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade said in an order issued
Sunday night that she would give the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
until Feb. 9 to decide whether gay marriages should continue to be
delayed in the state.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/27/images/ads/current/Hallies_sda_010615.png) "As long as a stay is in place, same-sex couples and their families
remain in a state of limbo with respect to adoption, child care and
custody, medical decisions, employment and health benefits, future
tax implications, inheritance and many other rights associated with
marriage," Granade wrote.
The stay came two days after Granade ruled that Alabama's
prohibition on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, clearing the
way for the conservative southern state to become the 37th U.S.
state to allow same-sex couples to wed.
Strange said allowing same-sex marriages in Alabama before the
court's ruling would cause confusion and harm to the state if laws
barring those unions ultimately are upheld.
Granade, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said on
Sunday the state was unlikely to succeed on appeal.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2012/Sep/18/images/ads/current/demay_inv-lda081412.png)
Same-sex couples will be the ones potentially harmed until they are
allowed to marry and have their marriages that were performed in
other states recognized in Alabama, she said.
The Alabama director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay
rights advocacy group, said same-sex couples remained optimistic
that the courts would rule in their favor.
"While we're disappointed that committed, loving gay and lesbian
couples in Alabama will not be able to marry, we're hopeful the
final legal barriers will be overcome quite soon," Ashley Jackson
said in a statement on Monday.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem; Additional reporting
by Sherrel Stewart in Birmingham; Editing by David Adams and Eric
Walsh)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/27/images/ads/current/peasleymemorials_lda100213.png) |