Court Rules Against Gay Marriage Referendum

Head over to City Desk if you'd like to download a pdf copy of Judge Judith Retchin's Superior Court decision from earlier today, in which she ruled against the request of petitioners Bishop Harry Jackson et al. to put a halt to the D.C. Council's same sex marriage recognition law. Not only did Retchin rule that stopping the clock on the legislation, which is set to take effect next week, was not warranted, she went so far as to rule more broadly that the landmark 1995 Dean v. District decision does not apply to this case. Here's the key passage: "The Court in Dean did not consider whether the government could refuse to recognize the legal right of persons to remain married solely because of their sexual orientation. In fact, the Court in Dean could not have addressed this issue because when Dean was decided in 1995, no state had legalized same-sex marriage." We expect Jackson and his anti-gay marriage crusaders to head straight over to the D.C. Court of Appeals.