Main | Wednesday, July 16, 2014

All Eyes On Florida

Via the Orlando Sentinel:
Three judges in separate cases across Florida could rule any day on whether to overturn Florida's ban on gay marriage. Each case deals with different set of couples who want to get married in different counties, but the basic question is the same: Does Florida's ban on same-sex marriage violate an individual's right under the U.S. Constitution to equal protection? Florida gay-rights activists and their attorneys expect to win in all three courts. "Literally any second now we could get rulings from the judges in one or more of those cases," said Mary Meeks, an Orlando attorney helping represent six gay couples in the Miami-Dade County case. Beyond those three lawsuits, two other legal challenges also are pending, but those rulings are not imminent. All of the cases challenge the ban on gay marriage in Florida's constitution, an amendment approved in 2008 with 62 percent of the vote.
Also quoted in the above-linked story is local hate group leader John Stemberger, who already has the sadz about the judge in the Miami-Dade County case: "I don't expect her to uphold the law." County clerks in Orange and Seminole counties say that any pro-gay ruling in the Miami-Dade or Monroe County cases would not be applicable statewide and that they will not issue marriage licenses until a state or federal court overturns the ban. The third of the three imminent rulings mentioned above was filed in a federal court.

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