U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale struck down Idaho's ban on gay marriage Tuesday, ruling it put same-sex couples in second-class status in violation of constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law, according to the Associated Press.
Dale was the latest in a string of decisions by federal judges against state bans on same-sex matrimony that, if upheld by higher courts, would sharply broaden access to marriage for U.S. gay couples, the AP reported.
Dale said her decision would go into effect on Friday at 9 a.m. local time, unless put on hold by a higher court, according to the AP. That decision, which struck down part of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, has been cited by a number of federal judges, including Dale, in subsequent opinions overturning state bans on gay matrimony.
Marriage rights have been extended to gay couples in 17 states and the District of Columbia in a trend that has gained momentum since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that legally married same-sex couples nationwide are eligible for federal benefits, the AP reported.
The Idaho lawsuit was brought in November by two lesbian couples whose out-of-state marriages were invalid in Idaho and two couples who sought to be married in Idaho but were denied licenses, according to the AP.
The lawsuit named Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter and Ada County Clerk Chris Rich as defendants, and Otter vowed to appeal on Tuesday, the AP reported.
Otter argues Idaho voters "exercised their fundamental right" by approving an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman in 2006, according to the AP.
"Today's decision, while disappointing, is a small setback in a long-term battle that will end at the U.S. Supreme Court," Otter said in a statement, the AP reported.
Dale sided with the couples in finding that the state's marriage laws intentionally discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and thus "do not survive any applicable level of constitutional scrutiny," according to the AP. She dismissed claims by Idaho's governor that heterosexual marriage focused on children's welfare rather than the "emotional interests of adults" and protected religious liberty.
In Virginia, opponents of the state's ban on gay marriage told a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday that the prohibition discriminated against same-sex couples, while supporters said they considered it an appropriate defense of a traditional family model, the AP reported.
