FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County Judge Strikes Down Marriage Ban, Stays Ruling

Via press release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

Today, a state trial court in Miami issued a decision striking down Florida’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples and ordering Miami-Dade County to allow same-sex couples to marry. The court stayed the order pending appeal. The case was brought by Equality Florida Institute and Catherina Pareto and Karla Arguello, Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price, Vanessa and Melanie Alenier, Todd and Jeff Delmay, Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber, and Don Price Johnston and Jorge Isaias Diaz. They are represented by the law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, Elizabeth F. Schwartz, Mary B. Meeks, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). On July 1, 2014, Judge Sarah Zabel of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court heard oral argument in the case. The couples argued that Florida’s ban on marriage equality cannot stand in light of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2013 that the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” violates the federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

Two weeks ago a judge in Florida's Monroe County also overruled the ban and then stayed his decision. Attorney General Pam Bondi has already appealed the Monroe County case. A ruling in a federal suit filed in Tallahassee, which would be applicable statewide, is due at any time.

Read the full ruling.