After taking a breath following the Supreme Court’s lifting of the federal ban on same-sex marriage, the American Civil Liberties Union has declared what amounts to litigational blitzkrieg, attacking same-sex marriage bans in several states including North Carolina and Virginia. However, they are more primarily and immediately focused on attacking the same-sex marriage ban in Pennsylvania.
Same sex marriages are constitutionally banned in 35 states, while they are allowed in 13 and the District of Columbia. The ACLU aims to change all that, beginning with a case in Pennsylvania. The state has its own Defense of Marriage Act as part of its constitution that prohibits recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.
23 plaintiffs have joined together in the suit, as the Washington Post reports, including 10 gay couples, the children of another couple, and the widow of a same sex couple, who says she does not want legal validation but “I wanted our relationship to be respected like everybody else’s relationship. That was first and foremost the reason for doing this.”
Or as Witold “Vic” Walczak said, as reported by the Huffington Post, “What we’re looking for is for the court to say: Here we are in the 21st century, and you cannot prohibit somebody from participating in this wonderful institution we call marriage.” It almost sounds like an ironic statement, but he meant it sincerely.