Federal Court Holds Pennsylvania’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriages Unconstitutional

On May 20, 2014, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania concluded that Pennsylvania’s attempts to restrict marriages to “traditional” male-female relationships are unconstitutional.  In Whitewood v. Wolf, Judge John E. Jones III began:

“Today, certain citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are not guaranteed the right to marry the person they love. Nor does Pennsylvania recognize the marriages of other couples who have wed elsewhere. Hoping to end this injustice, eleven courageous lesbian and gay couples, one widow, and two teenage children of one of the aforesaid couples have come together as plaintiffs and asked this Court to declare that all Pennsylvanians have the right to marry the person of their choice and consequently, that the Commonwealth’s laws to the contrary are unconstitutional. We now join the twelve federal district courts across the country which, when confronted with these inequities in their own states, have concluded that all couples deserve equal dignity in the realm of civil marriage.”

As in Windsor, the case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, among the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania case was the surviving partner of a long-time relationship.  Maureen Hennessey was denied the rights of a “surviving spouse” after the death of her partner of 29 years from cancer. 

News reports indicate that in Philadelphia on the same day as the decision, the Registrar’s office immediately begain issuing marriage licenses, staying open an extra hour for that purpose.