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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEven poor old Alaska is not immune anymore.
BREAKING: Marriage Equality Suit Filed in AlaskaIn the suit, filed in U.S. District Court today, couples say the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
Alaska joined the movement for marriage equality today, with a suit filed in U.S. District Court challenging the states ban on same-sex marriage.
The suit directly challenges the state prohibition on same-sex marriages (which voters amended the Alaska State Constitution to include back in 1998) asserting that the ban violates the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, reports news website Alaska Commons. It was scheduled to be filed by the close of business today.
Five couples have signed on as plaintiffs. We are taking a stand because marriage should be available to all loving couples, said one of the plaintiffs, Matthew Hamby, in a press release. Hamby and Christopher Shelden were married in Canada in 2008 and renewed their vows last year in Utah. Its important to us that our family is recognized by the state of Alaska and that we have the same rights and privileges as others, Hamby added.
The couples are represented by attorneys Heather Gardner, Caitlin Shortell, and Allison Mendel. Alaska governor Sean Parnell, Attorney General Michael Geraghty, Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services William Streur, and others are named as defendants in the suit.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/05/12/marriage-equality-suit-filed-alaska
Only two States left to file in and that is soon to be one.
dsc
(52,166 posts)there was a Alaska supreme court ruling there on marriage equality which sadly an amendment was passed to overturn.
William769
(55,147 posts)dsc
(52,166 posts)William769
(55,147 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Terra Alta
(5,158 posts)Palin's head must be exploding...
William769
(55,147 posts)sheshe2
(83,860 posts)They otta follow suit~
Cool~
William769
(55,147 posts)Thank you.
William769
(55,147 posts)sheshe2
(83,860 posts)Watched her all the time when I was a kid~
I had a Shirley Temple doll too...
Cha
(297,532 posts)"..married in Canada in 2008 and renewed their vows in Utah". . Its important to us that our family is recognized by the state of Alaska and that we have the same rights and privileges as others, Hamby added."
"Utah".. That right there sounds bizarre but we know what happened in Utah.
"Same-sex marriage in Utah became legal on December 20, 2013, as the result of a ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. The state Attorney General's office was granted a stay of the ruling by the United States Supreme Court on January 6, 2014, while the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver considers the case.[1]
Utah, a politically conservative state that has voted Republican in every presidential election from 1968 through 2012, is the 18th state where same-sex marriage has been legalized."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Utah
Nice pic of Hamby and Sheldon