U.S. District Court for Florida strikes down state’s same-sex marriage ban

It started in the “Conch Republic” of the Florida Keys a few weeks ago when a state court judge struck down Florida’s same-sex marriage ban in that country. This decision was quickly followed by state court judges in several other South Florida counties striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban in their counties as well.

Now a federal district court judge in Florida has struck down Florida’s same-sex marriage ban. the Miami Herald reports, U.S. judge slams Florida ban on gay marriages:

In the first decision on same-sex marriage with statewide impact, a federal judge ruled Thursday that Florida’s gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, ordering the state to allow the marriage of same-sex couples and to recognize marriages performed elsewhere.

“When observers look back 50 years from now, the arguments supporting Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage, though just as sincerely held, will again seem an obvious pretext for discrimination,” wrote U.S District Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Tallahassee. “Observers who are not now of age will wonder just how those views could have been held.”

Hinkle, who stayed most of the effects of his ruling pending appeal, added: “The institution of marriage survived when bans on interracial marriage were struck down, and the institution will survive when bans on same-sex marriage are struck down. Liberty, tolerance, and respect are not zero-sum concepts. Those who enter opposite-sex marriages are harmed not at all when others, including these plaintiffs, are given the liberty to choose their own life partners and are shown the respect that comes with formal marriage. Tolerating views with which one disagrees is a hallmark of civilized society.”

The judge’s ruling comes after 22 individuals, including nine married couples, sued Florida to recognize their marriages or grant them marriage licenses. Plaintiffs in the case include eight same-sex couples from throughout Florida and the LGBT-rights group SAVE, represented by the ACLU of Florida.

Read the Opinion HERE (.pdf).

Attorney General Pam Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray declined to say whether the attorney general’s office will take the case to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. “We’re reviewing the ruling,” he said.

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“It’s the first federal decision in Florida. When the stay is lifted, it will have statewide impact,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. “What it will mean, when the stay is ultimately lifted, is that their families will be protected and strengthened. They’ll start getting health insurance, pension benefits. They could protect their families with survivors benefits. These are the dramatic, practical ways that this victory will ultimately help families in Florida.”

The gay-marriage battle is being waged across the nation. According to the national group Freedom to Marry, LGBT advocates have won more than 30 times in federal, state and appellate courts since June 2013, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Edith Windsor, a lesbian widow, and threw out a key portion of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Since mid-July there have been five rulings in Florida declaring the state’s gay-marriage ban unconstitutional. The previous four rulings were in local courts throughout South Florida.

Hinkle’s stay covered all aspects of the federal case except one: The judge ordered Goldwasser’s death certificate be amended to show she was a married woman, not single at the time she died.

“The defendant Florida Surgeon General must issue a corrected death certificate for Carol Goldwasser showing that at the time of her death she was married to Arlene Goldberg,” Hinkle wrote.

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Bondi has until Sept. 22 to appeal the case or the ruling takes effect, allowing Goldberg to become eligible to collect Goldwasser’s Social Security.