Judge: Same-gender 'marriage' not a 'fundamental right'

[Mark Wright]

This would probably piss Leo off

 

Judge: Same-gender 'marriage' not a 'fundamental right' Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 3/29/2010 7:00:00 AM A Pennsylvania judge has said no to a lesbian pair seeking a divorce -- and a state-based family advocate is applauding that decision.   Carole Ann Kern and Robin Lynn Taney were married in June 2009 in Massachusetts, where homosexual "marriage" is legal. When they did not meet the residency requirements to file for divorce in that state, they returned to their home state and filed there. But Berks County Judge Scott Lash ruled as "unsupportable" the couple's argument that same-sex marriage passes the test for being a "fundamental right."   "This is a plea for social change," the judge wrote. "If homosexuals had a fundamental right to be married to each other, this plea would be unnecessary."   Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania reacts to the judge's ruling. "Well, I think we have at least one good judge in Pennsylvania," she comments. "It was encouraging that he ruled that this lesbian couple could not get a divorce in Pennsylvania, because Pennsylvania does not recognize their marriage to begin with."   It is refreshing, remarks the family advocate, that Judge Lash did not act as an activist judge, but instead ruled on the basis of current state law. The judge did rule that the two had a right to privacy. But...   "The second [question] was whether that right to privacy guarantees a right to marriage, is basically what he said," Gramley explains. "And the other [question] was [whether] the fundamental right of marriage contemplate[s] same-sex marriage."   And to both questions, the judge answered no. Lash also wrote the following in his ruling: "Courts should be reluctant to identify a right as fundamental when not clearly required by the Constitution or established precedent. A court who finds a fundamental right where none exists bypasses the legislative process and denies the people a voice in effecting social policy, in essence, trumping democracy by judicial fiat." Pennsylvania has a Defense of Marriage law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Efforts in the legislature to send the issue to the people in the form of a constitutional amendment failed for a third time recently. Gramley is hopeful more conservatives will win in the November elections so a fourth effort might have a better chance at passage.

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