Virginia’s marriage equality case is not among the challenges to state gay marriage bans that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Tuesday.
But the high court’s decision, expected for June, will decide the fate of marriage in the entire country, including the commonwealth, where same-sex couples have been allowed to marry since October.
More than 1,500 same-sex couples have been legally married in Virginia since fall, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Hundreds more had their out-of-state unions recognized here. The end of the gay marriage ban also has enabled 15 same-sex couples to finalize their adoptions of children in recent months; others are pending.
Attorney General Mark Herring said Virginia’s recent battle for marriage equality and the state’s history of important civil rights cases have shaped the national conversation and will have an impact on how the justices will come down on one of the big social issues of our time.
“I think the legal arguments that we made have helped to contribute to where things stand right now, and Virginia has some important lessons from our past civil rights cases that can help inform the Supreme Court and get them to make the correct decision on it,” Herring said in an interview at his Richmond office.
Herring said he will compare the unsuccessful arguments “to those Virginia had made” in past cases, such as Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, and Loving v. Virginia in 1967, which overturned bans on interracial marriage.
“The arguments on the losing side in these cases are eerily similar to the arguments the opponents of marriage equality are making. And it will be interesting to see whether they will gain traction. I don’t think they will,” he said.
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Virginia’s equal rights history may sway court’s gay marriage ruling – Roanoke Times: Politics.
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