ATLANTA (ABP) — A state judge has invalidated Georgia's state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, saying its promoters improperly placed it on the state's general election ballot in 2004.
However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell said Georgia's voters have a right to ban same-sex marriage if they see fit.
In her May 16 ruling, Russell said the provision violated the Georgia Constitution's requirement that proposed amendments deal with only one subject because it proposed banning both same-sex marriage and “civil unions” between gay couples.
“People who believe marriages between men and women should have a unique and privileged place in our society may also believe that same-sex relationships should have some place, although not marriage,” Russell wrote in her opinion. “The single-subject rule protects the right of those people to hold both views and reflect both judgments by their vote.”
But conservative groups that oppose gay marriage pointed to Russell's ruling as an example of judicial overreach on the issue of marriage. “Today's ruling demonstrates once again that marriage is threatened by activist judges who refused to recognize the established right of the voters and legislatures to protect marriage,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, in a May 17 press statement.
Georgia already has a statute banning gay marriage. Russell's ruling does not affect that.
Georgia's amendment is one of more than a dozen passed since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first jurisdiction in the United States to legalize gay marriage. As in many of the other states that passed similar constitutional marriage bans, Georgia voters approved the amendment by an overwhelming majority.
Russell's decision came just two days prior to a scheduled vote in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the Marriage Protection Amendment, which would amend the federal Constitution to ban same-sex marriage nationwide. A group pushing that amendment released a statement May 17 saying Russell's decision underscores why a nationwide constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is needed.
“This ruling in Georgia makes it all the more clear that [the] marriage amendment is the only hope for the deeply held values of the vast majority of Americans — of every race, color and creed — to be protected under our laws,” said Matt Daniels, president of the Washington-based Alliance for Marriage.
The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by attorneys representing Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said May 17 the state would appeal the ruling and ask the Georgia Supreme Court for an expedited hearing.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) said he would call an Aug. 9 special session of the Georgia legislature to deal with the issue if the state's high court doesn't do so before Aug. 7.
But some Georgia Democrats reportedly criticized that decision, noting that a special session costs the state as much as $40,000 a day, while heterosexual marriage is already protected statutorily in the state.
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