Below The Beltway

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Gay Marriage Setback In Washington

by Doug Mataconis @ 1:05 pm on July 26, 2006.

The Washington Supreme Court has upheld that state’s Defense of Marriage Act, dealing yet another setback to the effort to legalize same-sex marriage.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state Supreme Court upheld a ban on gay marriage Wednesday, saying lawmakers have the power to restrict marriage to unions between a man and woman.

The 5-4 decision disappointed gay-marriage advocates and left Massachusetts as the only state that grants full marriage rights to gay couples.

The decision was the latest in a series of significant court rulings favoring gay-marriage opponents. New York’s high court dealt gay couples another blow earlier this month when it ruled that a state law limiting marriage to between a man and a woman was constitutional.

In the Washington decision, the court overruled two lower courts that had found the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which limits marriage to opposite-sex couples, violated the state constitution and its Equal Rights Amendment.

KipEsquire has read the opinion and comes away with this conclusion:

Translation: It is perfectly permissible to relegate an insular minority to second-class citizenship for no other reason than because the majority is too incompetent to control itself sexually and needs to be “encouraged” (i.e., manipulated) into certain behaviors in a way that gays, apparently, need not be.

Given the outcome in three states now — New York, Georgia, and, now, Washington — that certainly seems to be the majority view of jurists at this point.

Update: Kip is correct in the comments, I did indeed forget Nebraska, where the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a U.S. District Court Judge’s ruling that the state’s Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.

Update # 2: Thanks to Kim Priestap, I’m reminded that Connecticut should also be added to the list of states whose DOMA laws have been upheld. Next up: New Jersey

Gay Marriage, Polgamy, and Individual Liberty
Gay Marriage Setbacks In New York And Georgia
Getting Government Out Of The Marriage Business
Further Thoughts On Marriage
Gay Marriage In Tennessee