North Dakota Is Now the Only State with Unchallenged Gay Marriage Ban

[xchrom]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/05/22/south_dakota_lawsuit_leaves_north_dakota_alone_with_unchallenged_gay_marriage.html



Six couples filed a legal challenge in South Dakota on Thursday to the state’s ban on gay marriage. The federal lawsuit adds South Dakota to the list of now 30 states with pending challenges to the probation on gay marriage and leaves North Dakota as the only state in the country with an unchallenged ban on same-sex marriage. Elsewhere, the Associated Press reports, “in 19 states and the District of Columbia, gay couples already can wed, with Oregon and Pennsylvania becoming the latest to join the list this week when federal judges struck down their bans and officials decided not to appeal.

Here’s more from the AP on the lone legal holdout:

North Dakota voters in 2004 overwhelmingly passed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, Thompson, North Dakota, Mayor Karyn Hippen became the first in the state to join a national coalition of mayors who support same-sex marriage. Although 73 percent of the voters favored the constitutional ban, Hippen said she believes there's support in the state for the issue. Same-sex marriage advocates in both North Dakota and South Dakota said the fact that sexual orientation and gender identity are not protected classes for matters such as housing and employment has discouraged couples from coming forward.

[Fearless]

1. We've come so far already this year

Surely there is at least one couple willing to step forward in North Dakota!

[theHandpuppet]

2. There's at least a glimmer of hope...

INFORUM
Fargo-Moorhead
Published May 22, 2014, 08:48 PM
Thompson mayor becomes first ND member of national group backing gay marriage

THOMPSON, N.D. – The mayor of Thompson has joined a national group of mayors supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage.

On Thursday, Karyn Hippen became the 400th mayor to join Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, and the first mayor from North Dakota in the group...

... Several couples have reportedly approached lawyers about potentially challenging North Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage, which was approved by 73 percent of residents in 2004. A federal lawsuit filed Thursday to block South Dakota’s gay marriage ban leaves North Dakota as the only state with a ban that hasn’t faced a legal challenge.

“As the conversation about why marriage matters comes to every corner of the country, voices like Mayor Hippen’s talking about North Dakota families and values of fairness will help grow support for the freedom to marry in the heartland and create the climate to end the denial of marriage throughout America,” Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said in a statement....

MORE at http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/435552/

[burrowowl]

3. Good on the Mayors!