Pennsylvania state governor Tom Corbett has moved to sue Montgomery county register of wills democrat Bruce Hanes in commonwealth court. Governor Corbett is seeking a court order to stop Hanes from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Montgomery County.
Since July, register of wills Bruce Hanes has issued 34 licenses to gay couples. His comment was that he wanted to “come down on the right side of history and the law.” Pennsylvania is the only state in the northeast that currently doesn’t allow same sex marriages or civil unions.
According to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, the chaos started when Attorney General Kathleen Kane said that Pennsylvania’s state law that bans gay marriages was unconstitutional. James D. Schultz, general counsel for governor said that the attorney general’s statement is only causing uncertainty and chaos.
The leading advocacy group for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people in western Pennsylvania, the Delta Foundation, commented that this was “another instance showing [that Gov.] Corbett is out of touch.” Attorney General Kathleen Kane comments that she won’t defend the state of Pennsylvania in a separate lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties union, according to TribLive.com.
Governor Corbett’s attorney commented that attorney general Kane had a duty and sacred obligation to uphold the law. The chief of staff for the attorney general rebutted that “the state’s law isn’t enforceable because it violates the due process and equal protection provisions” of those constitutions. He ends by stating that attorney general Kane made her decision after reviewing the law and that her “politics and personal belief were not taken into account.”