Pennsylvania governor: I won't appeal court's gay marriage ruling

Tom Corbett says appeal would be 'extremely unlikely to succeed' meaning same-sex marriage will remain legal in state

theguardian.com, Associated Press in Harrisburg, Wednesday 21 May 2014

Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett. Photograph: AP

Pennsylvania's governor says he won't appeal a court decision that struck down the state's gay marriage ban.

Governor Tom Corbett's decision Wednesday means that same-sex marriage will remain legal in Pennsylvania, without the threat that a higher court will reinstate the ban.

On Tuesday, US district court Judge John Jones struck down Pennsylvania's 1996 law banning recognition of gay marriage, calling it unconstitutional.

Corbett's decision goes against his political beliefs. He opposes same-sex marriage and supported thus-far unsuccessful efforts to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. But he said Wednesday an appeal would be "extremely unlikely to succeed."

Pennsylvania is the 19th state to legalize gay marriage. Tuesday's decision created a bloc of 11 states from Maine to Maryland that allow same-sex marriage, in addition to the District of Columbia.

Hundreds of gay couples apply for marriage licenses after Jones' ruling Tuesday. Under state law, couples must wait three days after their application to get married unless a sympathetic judge grants a waiver.

Joe Parisi, 30, and Steven Seminelli, 28, live in Philadelphia and were among the first to get a license Tuesday. They texted each other during work and decided they had to get a license as soon as they could, Parisi said.

"We didn't want to take the chance of having this be challenged and missing out on our opportunity," he said.

A torrent of celebration was met by criticism from state Republicans, who as recently as 2012 endorsed a platform defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

"An activist judiciary has substituted its judgment in place of the law created by the elected representatives of Pennsylvania and has stifled the ongoing debate of people with differing points of view," party chairman Rob Gleason said, citing a 1996 ban on gay marriage instituted by state legislators.

State marriage bans have been falling around the country since the US supreme court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year.

On Monday, Oregon became the 18th state to recognize same-sex marriage after a federal judge invalidated its voter-approved ban. Also Monday, a federal judge in Utah ordered state officials to recognize more than 1,000 gay marriages that took place in the two weeks before the US supreme court halted weddings there with an emergency stay.

And later Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that no same-sex marriages will be allowed or recognized in Idaho until an appeal is decided on a ruling this month that overturned that state's ban.

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