Couples Appeal 6th Circuit Ruling Upholding Gay Marriage Ban to Supreme Court

As expected, several couples whose right to marry was denied with a recent appeals court ruling affirming states’ rights to ban same-sex marriage are appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last week, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt gay marriage advocates a defeat, the first in a string of appeals court victories that struck down bans on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.Rulings earlier this year by the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th circuits struck down same-sex marriage bans from Alaska to Florida.

Gay marriage is legal in 32 states, and in parts of Missouri, Kansas and the District of Columbia.

The 6th Circuit ruling upheld the bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, and appeals filed Friday asked the justices for review, the Detroit Free Press reports.

In October, the justices refused to hear appeals from five states whose gay marriage bans were turned down by the appeals courts.

The quick appeal days after the 6th Circuit’s ruling means the Supreme Court could take up the issue this term and decide it by June.

Cincinnati attorney Al Gerhardstein, who is representing the plaintiffs in Ohio, said the ruling “robs married same-sex spouses and their children of dignity and legal respect from cradle to grave.”

The cases before the 6th Circuit were:

Michigan: On March 21, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled against Michigan’s voter-backed ban on same-sex marriage in DeBoer V. Snyder. The case was filed by a lesbian couple who wanted to jointly adopt children, but were prohibited from doing so by the 2004 voter-backed ban on same-sex marriage.

During the 24 hours that same-sex marriage was legal, more than 300 couples wed, only to have their marriages put on hold when the 6th Circuit granted a stay in the decision. The marriages are legal, but Michigan won’t recognize them until the issue is sorted out by the 6th Circuit. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that for federal purposes, the marriages are legal.

Kentucky: On July 1, U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn III ruled in Love v. Beshear against a provision forbidding the commonwealth from performing same-sex marriages. That ruling followed a Feb. 12 ruling in Bourke v. Besher that said the Commonwealth could not refuse to recognize valid same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Heyburn stayed his own rulings pending an appeal to the 6th Circuit.

Ohio: Two Ohio cases have been consolidated in the appeal before the 6th Circuit. On Dec. 23, 2013, U.S. District Judge Timothy Black ruled in Obergefell v. Himes that Ohio’s refusal to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another jurisdiction was unconstitutional. The case was filed on behalf of Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, who wanted their Maryland marriage to be recognized on Arthur’s death certificate before he died. The court ordered the state to recognize the marriage when Arthur died in October 2013.

In a subsequent ruling in Henry v. Himes, Black ruled that the state must recognize the marriages of all same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions.

Tennessee: On March 14, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ordered Tennessee officials to recognize three same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The ruling was later stayed by the 6th Circuit.