Broward judge rules gay-marriage ban unconstitutional
Source: Tampa Bay Times
Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen declared Florida's gay marriage ban unconstitutional on Monday, the third South Florida judge in 18 days to do so. He immediately stayed his decision pending an appeal by the state of Florida.
His ruling paves the way for Heather Brassner to dissolve her 2002 Vermont civil union from her estranged partner.
"The Court is well aware of the emotionally charged environment behind this important issue. However, politics and emotionality cannot rule, it is the laws of our government that create the free society that we enjoy. The judicial role is to rule by applying the law to the facts with neutrality and impartiality," Cohen said in his ruling. "This Court believes that the issue here is not whether there is a right to same-sex marriage but instead whether there is a right to marriage from which same-sex couples can be excluded. The State of Florida cannot ignore the status and dignity afforded to opposite-sex couples, who were married out-of-state, and not extend those same rights, dignities and benefits to same-sex couples similarly situated."
Brassner and her first partner, Megan Lade, were united in a civil union on July 6, 2002, in Vermont. That was two years before the first gay and lesbian couples in the United States were allowed to marry in Massachusetts, and seven years before gay marriage became legal in Vermont.
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