Bush Appointed Federal Judge Says Kentucky Must Recognize Gay Marriage

Bush Appointed Federal Judge Says Kentucky Must Recognize Gay Marriage

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 on the recommendation of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is the first federal judge nominated by a Republican president to rule for same-sex marriage proponents in a case in Kentucky.

The suit was filed on behalf of Gregory Bourke and Michael Deleon of Louisville, who were married in Ontario, Canada, in 2004; Jimmy Meade and Luther Barlowe, who live in Bardstown and were lawfully married in Davenport, Iowa, in 2009; Randell Johnson and Paul Campion, who live in Louisville and were married in Riverside, Calif., in 2008; and Kimberly Franklin and Tamera Boyd, who live in Cropper and were married in Stratford, Conn., in 2010.

When the four couples asked that their marriages be recognized in Kentucky, Heyburn said that his decision might not be popular in the state in which voters approved a state DOMA by 74% in 2004. In his statement he wrote, “It is clear that Kentucky’s laws treat gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them.”

While the case dealt with out-of-state marriages, it does not require the state to perform same-sex marriages. Heyburn mainly relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling striking down a section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, on which Kentucky’s same-sex marriage amendment had been based. The judge also made reference to older rulings dealing with race and gender, noting that bans on interracial marriage, segregation and restrictions on women had been cited in the past as keys to a more stable society. But courts gradually did away with those restrictions.

Heyburn rejected the arguments of the Family Foundation of Kentucky — that recognizing same-sex marriages would undermine the fundamental role of marriage in ensuring procreation, saying that there is no requirement that opposite-sex couples agree to procreate to get married.

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