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Va. Supreme Court recognizes unmarried same-sex couples are legal too
Yes, this is listed under the heading "True Crime."
True Crime
Va. Supreme Court recognizes unmarried same-sex couples are legal too
By Tom Jackman May 2
@TomJackmanWP
It seemed an easy legal issue in the enlightened 21st century: If a married man and woman get divorced, and the woman then gets engaged to another woman, does the man still have to pay spousal support? If the woman had gotten engaged to another man, the answer would clearly be “no.” But since she took up with a woman, both a Fairfax County judge and the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled “yes,” the man must still pay spousal support.
The Virginia Supreme Court has now reversed that view: a gay couple can be legally considered to have “a relationship analogous to marriage,” and if they’ve been in one for a year, the person paying spousal support no longer has to do so.
Since gay marriage was legalized in Virginia in 2014, the ruling is “the first appellate case that would interpret the word ‘marriage’ in a statute,” said Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the male divorcé at the high court. “When you go for marriage equality, you get marriage equality. At the end of a relationship or the beginning of a relationship, it’s all treated the same.”
The ruling, written by Justice William C. Mims and issued Apr. 28, reverses long-held Virginia law, which stated that a legally recognized marriage could only occur between a man and a woman. The Virginia General Assembly, and then the voters of Virginia, approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 banning same-sex marriage, but the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that unconstitutional in 2014.
Va. Supreme Court recognizes unmarried same-sex couples are legal too
By Tom Jackman May 2
@TomJackmanWP
It seemed an easy legal issue in the enlightened 21st century: If a married man and woman get divorced, and the woman then gets engaged to another woman, does the man still have to pay spousal support? If the woman had gotten engaged to another man, the answer would clearly be “no.” But since she took up with a woman, both a Fairfax County judge and the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled “yes,” the man must still pay spousal support.
The Virginia Supreme Court has now reversed that view: a gay couple can be legally considered to have “a relationship analogous to marriage,” and if they’ve been in one for a year, the person paying spousal support no longer has to do so.
Since gay marriage was legalized in Virginia in 2014, the ruling is “the first appellate case that would interpret the word ‘marriage’ in a statute,” said Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the male divorcé at the high court. “When you go for marriage equality, you get marriage equality. At the end of a relationship or the beginning of a relationship, it’s all treated the same.”
The ruling, written by Justice William C. Mims and issued Apr. 28, reverses long-held Virginia law, which stated that a legally recognized marriage could only occur between a man and a woman. The Virginia General Assembly, and then the voters of Virginia, approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 banning same-sex marriage, but the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that unconstitutional in 2014.
