Federal judge upholds Louisiana SSM ban

[Castus]

The legal winning streak for same-sex marriage is over.

A federal judge in Louisiana upheld that state's prohibition on gay marriage Wednesday and belittled a string of 20-plus federal court decisions striking down state bans as "a pageant of empathy."

It was the first time since the Supreme Court ruled against the federal Defense of Marriage Act in June 2013 that a federal court refused to throw out a state's ban on gay and lesbian marriages.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/03/gay-marriage-louisiana/15021785/

[Sarah]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/03/gay-marriage-louisiana/15021785/

 
Well, that sucks.

[Altair]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/03/gay-marriage-louisiana/15021785/

You beat me to posting this, Castus. It was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess. (This is the first time since the Supreme Court's Windsor decision that a challenge to a same-sex marriage [SSM] ban has lost on the Federal level, although a *state* judge in Tennessee also bucked the overwhelming trend of overturning marriage bans and left the one in TN in place.)

From where I sit, this is a bump on the road. It may ultimately help the marriage equality cause by speeding a review by SCOTUS, since they tend to get involved when there's a conflict in Federal court rulings...and since all the rulings have been pro-SSM, there was no conflict to compel SCOTUS involvement. Until now.

Also, this was the first level of Federal review; all the higher reviews by the circuit courts have been in our favor.

Anyway, I'll take the record we've got--with more victories to come--and happily go to SCOTUS with it. For the swing justices, it will be awfully hard (though not impossible) for them to ignore the reasoning that has brought so many of their colleagues from across the country and across the political spectrum to the same conclusion.

[Altair]

--with more victories to come--

 
And as if on cue, this just in:

Indiana [& Wisconsin] same-sex marriage ban named unconstitutional
"A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday that same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana violate the U.S. Constitution, in another in a series of courtroom wins for gay-marriage advocates.

"The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago bumps the number of states where gay marriage will be legal from 19 to 21. Since last year, the vast majority of federal rulings have declared same-sex marriages bans unconstitutional."

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2014/09/04/indiana-gay-marriage-ban-7thcircuit/15082173/

[NiDara]

And as if on cue, this just in:

Indiana [& Wisconsin] same-sex marriage ban named unconstitutional
"A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday that same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana violate the U.S. Constitution, in another in a series of courtroom wins for gay-marriage advocates.

"The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago bumps the number of states where gay marriage will be legal from 19 to 21. Since last year, the vast majority of federal rulings have declared same-sex marriages bans unconstitutional."

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2014/09/04/indiana-gay-marriage-ban-7thcircuit/15082173/

It's disappointing to hear about Louisiana (not really surprising in this aspect), but that's great to hear about Wisconsin and Indiana. The dominoes are gradually falling, one by one...

[MadZealot]

From where I sit, this is a bump on the road. It may ultimately help the marriage equality cause by speeding a review by SCOTUS, since they tend to get involved when there's a conflict in Federal court rulings...and since all the rulings have been pro-SSM, there was no conflict to compel SCOTUS involvement. Until now.

I'm inclined to agree.  If (when) this gets to SCOTUS, I see going in the right direction on this one.  At this point nationwide SSM is just a matter of time.