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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Judge throws out Idaho gay marriage ban

Gay couples allowed to marry in the Gem state beginning 9 a.m. Friday

Shelia Robertson, left, with partner Andrea Altmayer on Tuesday evening, said, "If there's no stay, we're going to be first in line Friday morning." The two have been together for 16 years and are raising a four-year-old son; the court's ruling means the two Idaho residents can marry. (Betsy Russell)
BOISE – Unless a higher court intervenes, same-sex couples in Idaho can legally marry starting Friday morning, after a federal judge overturned the state’s same-sex marriage ban late Tuesday afternoon. “This is a historic day for Idaho and Idaho’s families,” said Deborah Ferguson, the lead attorney in the case, who represented four same-sex couples who sued to reverse Idaho’s voter-enacted ban. “It’s an enormously important decision.” Idaho Gov. Butch Otter vowed to appeal. “In 2006, the people of Idaho exercised their fundamental right, reaffirming that marriage is the union of a man and a woman,” the governor said. “Today’s decision, while disappointing, is a small setback in a long-term battle that will end at the U.S. Supreme Court. I am firmly committed to upholding the will of the people and defending our Constitution.” Just a day earlier, Otter had filed a pre-emptive motion asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale to stay her decision if she ruled against Idaho’s ban, to avoid the “chaos, confusion, conflict and uncertainty” that would ensue if same-sex couples in Idaho were allowed to marry, but then subsequent appeals halted such marriages. Dale declined. “A state’s broad authority to regulate matters of state concern does not include the power to violate an individual’s protected constitutional rights,” Dale wrote in her 57-page decision. “Idaho’s marriage laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental right to marry and relegate their families to a stigmatized, second-class status without sufficient reason for doing so. These laws do not withstand any applicable level of constitutional scrutiny.” Otter would have to persuade the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to stop Idaho from recognizing same-sex marriages. Otherwise, they’ll be legal starting at 9 a.m. Friday Mountain time, 8 a.m. Pacific. Ferguson called the four couples “amazingly courageous” for stepping forward and bringing the case. “If there’s no stay, we’re going to be first in line Friday morning,” said a tearful Shelia Robertson, who has been with partner Andrea Altmayer for 16 years; the two are raising a four-year-old son. “My little boy can grow up in a family just like anybody else’s little boy, and know that his mothers are connected and protected,” she said. “Friday morning I’ll be at the courthouse requesting a license, and then we’ll file for a step-parent adoption.” Added Altmayer, “It means the world.” Sue Latta, with wife Traci Ehlers – the two were legally married in California in 2008 – said, “We’re ecstatic – there couldn’t have been a better ruling. We had a valid legal argument.” In their arguments defending the ban, Otter, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Ada County Clerk Chris Rich argued that the state believes banning same-sex marriage is better for children, and that its voters have the right to decide that. “The traditional definition of marriage exists to promote Idaho’s child-centric marriage culture, rather than to oppress homosexuals,” Otter argued in his motion for the stay. Dale dismissed that argument, writing, “The defendants offered no evidence that same-sex marriage would adversely affect opposite-sex marriages or the well-being of children. Without proof, the Defendants’ justifications echo the unsubstantiated fears that could not prop up the anti-miscegenation laws and rigid gender roles of days long past. … The facts are clear and the law teaches that marriage is a fundamental right of all citizens, which neither tradition nor the majority can deny.” She found that Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage, both in state statute and in the state Constitution, violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process, and withholds from same-sex couples “a profound and personal choice, one that most can take for granted.” Dale wrote that the couples, and others like them, are penalized “not because they are unqualified to marry, start a family, or grow old together, but because of who they are and whom they love.” Federal courts have overturned state bans on same-sex marriage in 10 other states since the U.S. Supreme Court last summer invalidated the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, in a New York case. “These cases are happening simultaneously around the country,” Ferguson said. With the state vowing to appeal, it’s possible that Idaho’s case could be the one that arrives first at the U.S. Supreme Court. Said Ferguson, “We will vigorously defend this judgment.” Read more at Eye on Boise.