A marriage ceremony outside Madison’s City County Building. (File Photo: WRN)
A federal appeals court in Chicago rules gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana are unconstitutional.
In the decision by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Richard Posner says the rationale for the gay marriage bans “is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.”
Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, says she’s not surprised by the unanimous decision to strike down Wisconsin’s 2006 gay marriage ban, but she is disappointed. “I will never be anything other than disappointed in a court that does not understand what marriage inherently is — the unique union of a man and a woman.” She says, “Every child ever born has both a mother and a father. This court has patently now said that children don’t need both — a mother and a father — a male and a female.”
Judge Posner writes, “Heterosexuals get drunk and pregnant, producing unwanted children; their reward is to be allowed to marry. Homosexual couples do not produce unwanted children; their reward is to be denied the right to marry. Go figure.” Appling explains one bad example doesn’t negate the truth about marriage and that “it is fundamentally good for our society.” She says, “There are exceptions to every rule and if you throw out a good law because of bad examples, you’ve got a problem.”
Thursday’s decision by a three-judge panel was unanimous. Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen plans to appeal. Spokeswoman Dana Brueck says, “the Attorney General has always believed that this case will ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court.”
Van Hollen says a stay of federal Judge Barbara Crabb’s original decision in June, which overturned Wisconsin’s ban, remains in effect until all appeals have been concluded. That means same-sex couples can’t get married yet.