Posted by Dale Carpenter:
Washington High Court Upholds Exclusion of Gay Couples From Marriage:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_07_23-2006_07_29.shtml#1153927433
[1]Over three dissenters, the court turned away a state constitutional
challenge to Washington's marriage law. Here's a summary of the
holding from the opinion itself:
In brief, unless a law is a grant of positive favoritism to a
minority class, we apply the same constitutional analysis under the
state constitution's privileges and immunities clause that is
applied under the federal constitution's equal protection clause.
DOMA does not grant a privilege or immunity to a favored minority
class, and we accordingly apply the federal analysis. The
plaintiffs have not established that they are members of a suspect
class or that they have a fundamental right to marriage that
includes the right to marry a person of the same sex. Therefore, we
apply the highly deferential rational basis standard of review to
the legislature's decision that only opposite-sex couples are
entitled to civil marriage in this state. Under this standard, DOMA
is constitutional because the legislature was entitled to believe
that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers
procreation, essential to survival of the human race, and furthers
the well-being of children by encouraging families where children
are reared in homes headed by the children's biological parents.
Allowing same-sex couples to marry does not, in the legislature's
view, further these purposes.2 Accordingly, there is no violation
of the privileges and immunities clause.
There also is no violation of the state due process clause. DOMA
bears a reasonable relationship to legitimate state interests --
procreation and child-rearing. Nor do we find DOMA invalid as a
violation of privacy interests protected by article I, section 7 of
the Washington State Constitution. The people of Washington have
not had in the past nor, at this time, are they entitled to an
expectation that they may choose to marry a person of the same sex.
Finally, DOMA does not violate the state constitution's equal
rights amendment because that provision prohibits laws that render
benefits to or restrict or deny rights of one sex. DOMA treats both
sexes the same; neither a man nor a woman may marry a person of the
same sex.
References
1.
http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=759341MAJ
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