Court cites welfare of children; similarities to previous unconstitutional bans on interracial marriage in powerful ruling

Chicago/New York • 4 September 2014 - Marriage Equality USA leaders from coast to coast heralded today's unanimous victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

"As a child of interracial parents who grew up in Wisconsin in the 1960s, I know exactly what Judge Posner meant when he wrote that asking interracial couples in the 1960s to accept 'same-race unions' instead of marriage would have been 'considered deeply offensive, and, having no justification other than bigotry,'" said MEUSA Communications Director Stuart Gaffney. "While I am very thankful for the United States Supreme Court's 1967 ruling that gave interracial couples the freedom to marry all across our country, today, as a gay American, it's time for the same court to rule that LGBTQ Americans in all 50 states have that same basic human right to marry the person they love."

Steve Huesing, MEUSA Interim Board President, enthused: "As a Midwesterner, I am thrilled by today's decision. While I live in Chicago, where marriage equality is already the law, I am so glad that our neighbors in Indiana and Wisconsin no longer have to leave their home states to get married. We hope that marriages will begin soon in those states, or, if the United States Supreme Court decides to hear the case, this case will bring marriage equality to all Americans."

"Today's decision is a tremendous victory for all Americans who believe in love, freedom and equality," said MEUSA Executive Director Brian Silva. "It's no surprise that the decision came so quickly, given that at the hearing the opponents of equality could offer no answer when asked to demonstrate any harm that would result from marriage equality."

"With today's decision from the 7th Circuit, all three federal circuits that have issued opinions have ruled in favor of all loving, committed couples having the freedom to marry before their friends and family in the states they call home. With today's decision, forty courts have now ruled in favor of the freedom to marry in the past year alone. Today's decision marks another huge leap forward in the now unstoppable movement for full nationwide equality," concluded MEUSA Legal and Policy Director John Lewis.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brian Silva, Executive Director · (347) 913-6369 · [email protected]

Stuart Gaffney, Communications Director · (650) 450-8466 · [email protected]