Ky. Gov Says Straight People Can’t Have Same-Sex Marriage, Either

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear address the audience at the 50th annual Kentucky Country Ham Breakfast, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
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Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) argued in a brief filed to the Supreme Court last week that his state’s ban on gay marriage is not discriminatory because it does not allow gay or straight people to marry people of the same sex.

“Kentucky’s marriage laws treat homosexuals and heterosexuals the same and are facially neutral. Men and women, whether heterosexual or homosexual, are free to marry persons of the opposite sex under Kentucky law, and men and women, whether heterosexual or homosexual, cannot marry persons of the same sex under Kentucky law,” Beshear’s lawyer, Leigh Gross Latherow, wrote in the brief.

Dan Canon, the lawyer for the gay couples challenging Kentucky’s ban, told the Courier Journal that Kentucky’s argument is “absurd.”

“Kentucky is in essence saying that our clients are precluded from marriage entirely, unless they change their sexual orientation (or simply marry someone to whom they are not attracted),” Canon wrote in an email.

Kentucky has also argued that it has an economic interest in banning same sex marriage because such a ban would promote procreation by heterosexual couples.

The Supreme Court will consider this year whether state bans on same sex marriage are unconstitutional.

H/t Mediaite

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