Next Up: Oklahoma! Fed Judge Rules Against State DOMA

Next Up: Oklahoma! Fed Judge Rules Against State DOMA

Another 10th Circuit Federal judge has ruled that a state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage violates the federal Constitution. The state of Oklahoma joins Utah in the latest gay-rights Bible Belt victory.

The state’s ban on marriage by gay and lesbian couples is “an arbitrary, irrational exclusion of just one class of Oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit,” wrote Judge Terence C. Kern of United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, in Tulsa. The amendment, he said, is based on “moral disapproval” and does not advance the state’s asserted interests in promoting heterosexual marriage or the welfare of children.

Because Utah and Oklahoma are both in the 10th Circuit and their cases are similar, their appeals could be heard together. Unlike the solitary district judges, such appeals are done by a panel of three judges whose mission is to decide whether or not the lower court erred in its decision. Eventually, the Supreme Court — even though it has notably steered clear of ruling on state-by-state variations — could weigh in, settling the matter of whether states can ban same-sex marriage once and for all.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin spoke out against the ruling, which she said defied the views of 75% of those who voted in favor of limiting marriage to a man and woman.

“I support the right of Oklahoma’s voters to govern themselves on this and other policy matters,” Fallin said. “I am disappointed in the judge’s ruling and troubled that the will of the people has once again been ignored by the federal government.”

It’s been a 9 year fight for the two lesbian couples who filed this case in 2004, the same year that Oklahoma citizens voted to put a ban on same-sex marriage in their state’s constitution. “We’re jubilant, we’re over the moon,” said one of the plaintiffs, Sharon Baldwin, 45, who has lived with her partner and co-plaintiff, Mary Bishop, 52, for 17 years. Both couples are saying that it was worth the long fight.

Unlike what occurred in Utah, Judge Kern said the court would not immediately enforce this ruling, issued an immediate stay of his own decision, therefore not opening the doors right away to marriages of gay and lesbian couples in Oklahoma. This means that no gay or lesbian couples will have their marriages put in the same legal limbo as couples in Utah, while they wait for a decision in a higher court.