Three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard arguments defending gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, with one Republican appointee comparing them to now-defunct laws that once outlawed weddings between blacks and whites, according to The Associated Press.
Attorneys general in both states are trying to reinstate bans that were ruled unconstitutional in June, the AP reported. The outcome of the case also could directly affect hundreds of couples who were married after federal judges overturned the bans but before their rulings were put on hold pending appeal.
Judge Richard Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was dismissive when Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson repeatedly pointed to 'tradition' as the underlying justification for barring gay marriage, according to the AP.
Besides Posner, the judges who heard the case were Ann Claire Williams, a Bill Clinton appointee, and David Hamilton, appointed by President Barack Obama. It's unclear when the court might issue a ruling, the AP reported.
"It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry - a tradition that got swept away," Posner said, the AP reported. Prohibition of same sex marriage, he said, is "a tradition of hate ... and savage discrimination."
At one point, Posner ran through a list of psychological strains of unmarried same-sex couples, including having to struggle to grasp why their schoolmates' parents were married and theirs weren't, according to the AP.
"What horrible stuff," Posner said, the AP reported. What benefits to society in barring gay marriage, he asked, "outweighs that kind of damage to children?"
Lawyers representing both states, along with attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, a national group working for gay rights, were allotted 20 minutes each to argue their case, according to the AP.
A voter-approved constitutional amendment bans gay marriage in Wisconsin, the AP reported.
State law prohibits it in Indiana and neither state recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, according to the AP. The lawsuits raise similar arguments on behalf of several gay and lesbian plaintiffs, contending that the bans violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantee.
Gay marriage is currently legal in 19 states as well as the District of Columbia, and momentum is building for more states to recognize it, Advocates have won more than 20 court victories around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage in 2013, the AP reported.
