Blog Post # 8
May 22nd

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/20/pennsylvania-gay-marriage-ruling/9323521/

Pa. governor won't appeal ruling legalizing gay marriage

On May 21st Pennsylvania became the 19th state to declare legislation preventing same-sex couples from marrying unconstitutional. The governor, Tom Corbett, declared that he wouldn't appeal the ruling because he didn't think he would succeed. His religious and political beliefs, as a Roman Catholic and Republican, makes him stand by the fact that marriage should be solely between a man and a woman. The judge who overruled Pennsylvania's own Defense of Marriage Act, a federal judge, wrote a 39 page paper on his decision for the 21 people who sued the state for not being able to marry. The official lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union stating that the DOMA in the state violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. Brown, the judge, in his paper referenced Brown v. Board of Education Topeka and how its challenging of "separate but equal" is finally just equal. 

This article references terms learned in Unit 6 taking about civil rights. It is also very applicable since this is our own state that this happened in. The Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marraige Act but it has not yet been incorporated into the states by selective incorporation. These rulings in states like Pennsylvania do that. The judge talks about separate but equal, the 14th amendment, and the equal protection clause. He also references the court case, Brown v. Board of Education Topeka which challenged the separate but equal doctrine in schools. This advancement of another state giving marriage equality to its citizens makes it seem like very soon every state will allow same-sex marriage.