From Federal District Judge John E. Jones III's decision overturning PA's marriage ban [View all]

[markpkessinger]

I highly recommend taking the time to read Federal Judge John E. Jones III's decision striking down Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban. The Judge very carefully dismantles every one of the Commonwealth's arguments defending the ban. (A link to the full decision is provided below.) Then the Judge concludes with the following two, very eloquent paragraphs:

The issue we resolve today is a divisive one. Some of our citizens are made deeply uncomfortable by the notion of same-sex marriage. However, that same-sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection. Were that not so, ours would still be a racially segregated nation according to the now rightfully discarded doctrine of "separate but equal." See Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), overruling Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). In the sixty years since Brown was decided, "separate" has thankfully faded into history, and only "equal" remains. Similarly, in future generations the label same-sex marriage will be abandoned, to be replaced simply by marriage.

We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history.

Bravo, your Honor, bravo!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/225260457/1-13-cv-01861-Pennsylvania-Decision