LANSING, Mich. (ABP) — Michigan's highest court agreed May 24 to hear a case on what some opponents of same-sex marriage consider an unintended consequence of banning it.
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a lower court's ruling on the effects of a state constitutional amendment banning governmental recognition of same-sex marriage. In February, the Michigan Court of Appeals said the amendment, which voters passed in 2004, bans not only gay marriages themselves but any government action that would recognize the marriage.
Therefore, the lower court said, state universities, state government agencies and municipalities in Michigan that offer domestic-partner benefits to the same-sex companions of their employees must stop.
The operative phrase in the amendment says the union of a man and a woman in marriage “shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”
The state offer to give domestic-partner benefits was a way to recognize “a similar union,” the lower court reasoned, and thus violated the amendment.
Several dozen states have passed amendments banning same-sex marriage in recent years. Michigan's is one of the most restrictive, and gay-rights proponents have said many voters in Michigan would not have voted for the amendment had they known it could end health and retirement benefits for gay couples.
A group of state and municipal employees affected by the ruling are challenging the decision, asking the high court to overturn it.
The case is National Pride at Work v. Governor of Michigan.
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