Source: Supreme Court of the United States
We have arrived upon another moment in history when We the People becomes more inclusive, and our freedom more perfect.
-U.S District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen (Decision on Virginia Ban on Same-Sex Marriage February 14, 2014)
Last week, a federal judge in Virginia overturned Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.
The decision by Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the Federal District Court in Norfolk, Virginia relied on the Supreme Court decision made last year in United States v. Windsor which ruled that the federal government must provide benefits to same-sex couples married in states that allow such unions. Judge Wright Allen opened her 41-page decision with a quotation from Mildred Loving who successfully challenged Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage in 1967.
Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. . . . I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about. – Mildred Loving, “Loving for All”
Public Statement on the 40th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (June 12, 2007).
I wrote about the Lovings and their case in this June 2013 post.
In 1967, the Lovings’s Supreme Court victory over the state of Virginia ended bans on interracial marriage in America. Will Judge Wright Allen’s decision against Virginia in 2014 have similar repercussions?
Judge Wright Allen’s decision included this statement:
A spirited and controversial debate is underway regarding who may enjoy the right to marry in the United States of America. America has pursued a journey to make and keep our citizens free. This journey has never been easy, and at times has been painful and poignant. The ultimate exercise of our freedom is choice. Our Declaration of Independence recognizes that “all men” are created equal. Surely this means all of us. While ever-vigilant for the wisdom that can come from the voices of our voting public, our courts have never long tolerated the perpetuation of laws rooted in unlawful prejudice. One of the judiciary’s noblest endeavors is to scrutinize laws that emerge from such roots.
This ruling also referred to the “due process” and “equal protection” clauses of 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Read more about the 14th Amendment from the National Constitution Center.
Since the Supreme Court decisions on marriage equality last year, the number of states with legal same-sex marriage has grown to 17 plus the District of Columbia, and court challenges to same-sex marriage bans are underway in several other states, including Oklahoma and Utah. The Washington Post published this graphic map of the current state of marriage equality in the United States.
