MICHIGAN: State Argues That Sixth Circuit Ruling Invalidates Existing Marriages

The state of Michigan yesterday filed an attempt to void the 300+ same-sex marriages that took place there  during the brief period that it was legal. According to the office of Gov. Rick Snyder, last week's ruling by the Sixth Circuit invalidated those marriages.

"Consequently, from a legal standpoint, because the marriages rested solely on the district court's erroneous decision, which has now been reversed, it is as if the marriages never existed, and Plaintiffs' requests for benefits attendant to a legal marriage must be denied," lawyers for the state wrote in the six-page brief. It was filed with U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, who heard oral arguments in the case in August from both sides in a suit filed by eight of the affected couples. That case, Caspar v. Snyder, is pending. Marsha Caspar, the lead plaintiff in the case, and Glenna DeJong were the first same-sex couple in Michigan to be married March 22 in Ingham County. Attorneys for the couples in that case have until Nov. 21 to file their supplemental briefs. Among the plaintiffs are Frank Colasonti Jr. and James Ryder, the first same-sex couple married in Oakland County on March 22. "Jim and I are shocked and angry that the state of Michigan would continue to argue that our legal marriages are null and void," Colasonti said Friday.

Truly disgusting.