When was gay marriage legalized in pennsylvania

Until May 2014, same sex marriage was illegal in Pennsylvania. The 1996 Marriage Law define marriage as being between a bloke and a woman. However on 23 July 2013, D. Bruce Hanes, Register of Wills in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania announced that his office would issue marriage licenses to similar sex couples, in defiance of the law.

A same sex couple had contacted Hanes and asked him for a marriage license, prompting him to examine further the exclude on same sex marriage. In addition, the US Supreme Court had just overturned the Defense of Marriage Act weeks earlier. Hanes concluded that the marriage law was unconstitutional and stated, “there are provisions of the Pennsylvania constitution that I ponder are diametrically opposed to the marriage law.” Thus he decided to issue licenses to same sex couples, believing to be firmly “on the right side of history.”

Same sex couples in Pennsylvania greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. The next day, 24 July, five couples from various counties around Pennsylvania came to Montgomery County to obtain marriage licenses from Hanes. Over the coming weeks, Hanes continued to issue marriage licenses to couples. Couples filled the benches every

Pennsylvania Becomes Latest Lgbtq+ Marriage State

Pennsylvania’s Republican Governor Tom Corbett says he won’t appeal yesterday’s ruling from a federal judge striking down a state law that banned gay marriage.

Hundreds of gay couples are rushing to get married in the state, which as of today has develop the 19th state where gay marriage is legal.

On Monday, a federal judge in Oregon struck down a voter-approved bar on gay marriage and a federal judge in Utah ordered state officials to recognize more than 1,000 gay marriages performed there in the two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency stay.

Ultimately, the issue will wind its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court, because in its decision last year striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the upper court didn’t weigh in on whether state bans of same-sex marriage violated the Constitution.

Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law, discusses this with Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson.

Guest

Carl Tobias, professor of commandment at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Federal Court Strikes Down Pennsylvania’s Prohibition of Same-Sex Marriage

On May 20, 2014, the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Pennsylvania’s prohibition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. With this case, Whitewood v. Wolf, the Court held that Pennsylvania must allow lgbtq+ couples to get married and must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples validly performed in other jurisdictions as valid under the laws of the Commonwealth.

With this decision and the announcement that the Defendants will not explore an appeal, Pennsylvania now becomes the nineteenth mention to recognize and let same-sex marriage (the District of Columbia also recognizes same-sex marriage). Pennsylvania also follows the trend established in seven additional states where judges have struck down legislative marriage bans.

The issue in Whitewood concerned the constitutionality of Section 1102 and Section 1704 of the Pennsylvania Local Relations Code. Section 1102 of the Domestic Relations Code defined marriage as between one man and one woman, while Section 1

PA Judge Rules Same-Sex Marriage Constitutional, Allows Gay Marriage

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that Pennsylvania’s 1996 statutory bar on recognizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Jones said, “By virtue of this, ruling, same-sex couples who seek to join in Pennsylvania may perform so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth.” Before the ruling, Pennsylvania was the last state in the Northeast where same-sex couples could not legally marry.

The decision came after 21 Pennsylvanians challenged the constitutionality of the 1996 decision in Whitewood vs. Wolf. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the American Civil Liberties Union, and volunteer counsel, is named for Deb and Susan Whitewood, a homosexual couple with three children. Although the Bridgeville residents had a Holy Union ceremony at their church in 1993, they were not legally recognized as a married couple and did not have the same legal protections as other families. Judge Jones’ ruling will allow the women to be legally married in the declare of Pennsylvania.

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