The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld anti-gay marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. This is the first federal appeals court ruling that has upheld bans on marriage for same-sex couples. Four other circuits have ruled in favor of marriage equality.
Judge Jeffrey Sutton, writing for the 2-1 majority of the court, wrote the opinion upholding the constitutionality of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee’s bans.
“When the courts do not let the people resolve new social issues like this one, they perpetuate the idea that the heroes in these change events are judges and lawyers,” he wrote. “Better in this instance, we think, to allow change through the customary political processes, in which the people, gay and straight alike, become the heroes of their own stories by meeting each other not as adversaries in a court system but as fellow citizens seeking to resolve a new social issue in a fair-minded way.”
"Today, justice was stolen from countless loving couples, who simply wish to provide their families with the protections that only marriage can afford," said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "But the day when every family has equal protection under the law is on the horizon, and it is now up to the Supreme Court to once again affirm that everyone should be able to live the life they love."