Tag: Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania judge has issued a ruling ordering a suburban Philadelphia court clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying it was a clear violation of his legal authority.

From CBS Philadelphia reports:

Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini on Thursday issued an order that said Montgomery County Register of Wills Bruce Hanes didn’t have the power to decide on his own whether the same-sex marriage ban violates the state constitution.

Judge Pellegrini said last Wednesday that he would rule quickly on oral arguments in the lawsuit filed by Governor Tom Corbett against Montgomery County Register of Wills Bruce Hanes with regard to the 174 same-sex marriage licenses Hanes has handed out since July.

The judge did not rule on whether those same-sex couples who have married are legally married or if the state can and will annul their marriages.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett said Thursday it was inappropriate for his lawyers to include a reference to children in a legal brief involving same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses.

Corbett’s administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to block same-sex marriage licenses in suburban Philadelphia, where Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes has issued more than 150 to gay and lesbian couples since July 24.

State attorneys, in a court filing Wednesday, made an analogy to a pair of 12-year-olds, saying if the children were issued a marriage license and tried to defend it in court, they wouldn’t be taken seriously because the license was never valid.

“Had the clerk issued licenses to twelve-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each twelve-year-old has a legally enforceable ‘interest’ in his ‘license’ and is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his ‘license,’ else his due process rights be violated?” the brief said. “Obviously not.”

Corbett released a statement Thursday calling it a poor analogy:

“The case involving Montgomery County revolves around a very basic question: Does a public official have the authority to disregard state law based on his own personal legal opinion about the constitutionality of a statute?” he said. “The analogy chosen in the legal brief filed on August 28th is inappropriate.”

Equality Pennsylvania issued a statement earlier Thursday taking his lawyers to task over the legal argument:

“If there is one thing we can all agree on, it’s that all people deserve to be treated with respect,” said the group’s executive director, Ted Martin. “The statements made by the attorneys do not simply defend the laws of the state; they deny loving, committed same-sex couples the dignity they deserve.”

(source)

In a brief filed by the Corbett administration Wednesday, state attorneys said marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples were never valid, and compared gay and lesbian couples to “12-year-olds” who are also barred from marrying under state law.

The state Department of Health and Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes will appear in Commonwealth Court next Wednesday to argue the case.

Since July 24, Hanes has issued 154 marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Thirty-two of the couples have petitioned to intervene in the case, arguing that a ruling against Hanes could also invalidate their marriages.

The state filed a brief Wednesday opposing the couples’ participation, saying the marriage licenses hold no “actual value or legitimacy” and thus have no right to be defended in court. “Had the clerk issued marriage licenses to 12-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each 12-year-old … is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his ‘license’?” the state wrote.

If the couples wish to defend their “purported marriage licenses,” the state wrote, they should file their own lawsuit or wait for the outcome of a federal challenge to Pennsylvania’s marriage law.

(source)

This will probably push the marriage equality issue further into the public square.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman performed a marriage ceremony for John Kandray and Bill Grey last night.

The couple that was married knows that neither the Pennsylvania nor the federal government may recognize their marriage, but they say one day they hope it will be recognized by both.

“Showing our commitment to each other,” Gray said, “which we’ve been at that point for a long time, just now we can prove it.”

When they heard that Montgomery County was issuing licenses to same-sex couples, they went across the state to get one. And then they heard Braddock Mayor John Fetterman was willing to marry them.

“I just think it’s time people in Pennsylvania say, Mr. Corbett, you know, tear down this law,” Fetterman said. “DOMA is a fundamentally unjust piece of legislation.”

“We pay the same taxes, we do everything the same, but we don’t have the same rights,” Kandray said.

“It felt like, you know what, let’s stand up for ourselves and do this,” he added.

So at the mayor’s home and in front of the couple’s family and friends, they exchanged rings and were married by the mayor.

Last month the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage.

(source)