Georgia Gay Marriage Ban Remains, But Legal Ground Grows Shaky | WABE 90.1 FM

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that married gay couples couldn’t be denied federal benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens emphasized the ruling would have little impact on the state’s 2004 constitutional ban on same sex marriage.

“Today’s decision rests on the basic assumption – with which I strongly agree – that the power to define marriage is a power traditionally reserved to the States. The decision does not affect existing state definitions of marriage; in fact, it explicitly says that it is limited to marriages recognized by states as lawful,” said Olens in a written statement.

Matthew Perry, a constitutional law professor at Emory University, agreed the state ban is safe for now. However, long-term, he said it’s far more vulnerable to a legal challenge.

“To the extent the court said moral disapproval is not an acceptable basis for legislation under the 14th Amendment, well, eventually that’s going to create a problem for states like Georgia because that’s the very rationale that states like Georgia base their anti-same sex marriage policy on.”

Attorney Anthony Michael Kreis, political co-chair of Human Rights Campaign-Atlanta, agreed.

“I believe Justice [Anthony] Kennedy in couching it in terms of equal protection and not in terms of federalism and some other ways that he could have couched it, really put the writing on the wall that the tide of equality and marriage equality will not escape Georgia for long.

via Georgia Gay Marriage Ban Remains, But Legal Ground Grows Shaky | WABE 90.1 FM.