Top Stories of 2014: Same sex marriage in Pa. legalized
Photo by AP Photo/Matt Rourke
(Undated) — Same sex couples have been legally marrying in Pennsylvania for several months.
One of our top stories of 2014 focuses on the ruling by a federal judge to lift Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban.
Montgomery County Clerk D. Bruce Hanes began marrying same-sex couples in July 2013, despite the Commonwealth’s ban on the practice.
Nearly a year later, U.S. District Judge John Jones III struck down the 1996 state law.
Jones spoke to WITF’s SmartTalk shortly after making the decision.
“The Constitution doesn’t mention marriage, but it does mention liberty,” he told Scott LaMar. “(So) the right for same sex couples to marry is not new, it always existed, as a fundamental right, and due process issue.”
Jones ruled May 20th on the ACLU lawsuit with 23 plaintiffs – including David Palmer.
Palmer and his partner Ed Hill married in Maine, but live in Pennsylvania.
“I no longer have to look out the window of our home across the field into New Jersey and say that we’re married over there in New Jersey but not in Pennsylvania,” he said. “Now, in our home, we are married.”
Within a day of the decision coming down, hundreds of same-sex couples across the state had filed for marriage licenses. The Corbett administration decided to let the decision stand.
Governor Corbett said at the time he personally believes marriage is between one man and one woman, but his public office essentially obligated him to do nothing because an attempt for a stay likely would fail.
The federal Supreme Court affirmed in October that states can decide whether to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Pennsylvania is one of 35 states that do.
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