State Gay Marriage Bans Face Largest Attack Yet
The broadest attack yet on states’ gay marriage bans will be Wednesday in a packed courtroom in downtown Cincinnati, where lawyers challenging four states’ prohibitions will stand shoulder to shoulder in hopes of convincing a three-judge panel that the bans are unconstitutional.
The states - Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee - have so far waged their battles separately, fighting to uphold the bans that voters years ago embraced. Each state faces slightly different challenges filed by same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children as a couple, to have their names placed on a partner’s death certificate and to have their marriages - performed legally elsewhere - recognized in the states they call home, where same-sex marriage is illegal.
Despite the variations in the attacks, make no mistake: The ultimate targets are the bans, and the real goal is the right to marry, adopt children and enjoy the same rights that opposite-sex couples have when they exchange vows.
