SEATTLE—Despite a Washington Superior Court ruling today that declared the state’s Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, the law remains intact. The court stayed its ruling until the Washington Supreme Court reviews the matter.
"Same-sex ‘marriage’ is not inevitable in Washington state. The ruling does not legalize same-sex ‘marriage’ or change any existing laws. The case will now go to the Washington Supreme Court," said ADF Senior Counsel Glen Lavy.
The judge in the case
Heather Andersen, et al., v. Ron Sims, et al., granted the plantiffs’ motion for summary judgment on the grounds that homosexuals have a fundamental right to marry.
Oral arguments on competing motions for summary judgment in the case were held July 27. Counsel for several homosexual couples to whom King County denied marriage licenses asked to have Washington’s DOMA declared unconstitutional. ADF and its allied attorneys, representing African-American clergy, state lawmakers, and others defending marriage, wanted the law declared constitutional. Today the court granted the plaintiffs’ request but passed the case directly to the Supreme Court.
"We are disappointed the court ignored the people’s right to legally define the most important institution of our society," said Steve O’Ban, lead counsel for intervenor defendants and an ADF-allied attorney with the Seattle firm Ellis, Li, & McKinstry, PLLC. "We trust that the Supreme Court will reverse this decision and uphold the historical right of the legislature to define and support marriage of one man and one woman."
The ruling comes on the heels of a constitutional amendment against same-sex "marriage" passed by an overwhelming majority of voters in Missouri yesterday.
"Every time same-sex ‘marriage’ is put before voters, it loses," said Lavy. "Same-sex ‘marriage’ is yet another social experiment where children are the ‘guinea pigs.’ In marriage, moms and dads matter."
ADF is America’s largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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