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Virginia attorney general won't defend gay marriage ban
Source: Reuters
Virginia attorney general won't defend gay marriage ban
BY GARY ROBERTSON AND SUSAN HEAVEY
RICHMOND, Va./WASHINGTON Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:06pm EST
(Reuters) - Virginia will no longer defend its ban on same-sex marriage, the state's new attorney general said on Thursday, making it the latest U.S. state to challenge a prohibition on gay marriage.
Attorney General Mark Herring said the southern state's constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman was part of a long history of opposing landmark Supreme Court rulings on civil rights.
"This will not be another instance. It is time for the commonwealth to be on the right side of history and the right side of the law," said Herring, who took office in January along with newly elected Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, after four years of Republican state rule.
Herring told a news conference the same-sex marriage ban violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for equal protection of the laws, and infringed on the rights of families.
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BY GARY ROBERTSON AND SUSAN HEAVEY
RICHMOND, Va./WASHINGTON Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:06pm EST
(Reuters) - Virginia will no longer defend its ban on same-sex marriage, the state's new attorney general said on Thursday, making it the latest U.S. state to challenge a prohibition on gay marriage.
Attorney General Mark Herring said the southern state's constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman was part of a long history of opposing landmark Supreme Court rulings on civil rights.
"This will not be another instance. It is time for the commonwealth to be on the right side of history and the right side of the law," said Herring, who took office in January along with newly elected Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, after four years of Republican state rule.
Herring told a news conference the same-sex marriage ban violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for equal protection of the laws, and infringed on the rights of families.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/23/us-usa-gaymarriage-virginia-idUSBREA0M12Z20140123