COURTS LOOK AT LOUISIANA SSM BAN AMENDMENT: From the New Orleans Times-Picayune

On its likely march to the Louisiana Supreme Court, the question of whether voters will cast ballots next month on a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in Louisiana made stops Monday at two state appeals courts.

In Baton Rouge, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal said after hearing arguments that a lawsuit seeking to strip the amendment off the Sept. 18 ballot was "premature" because state law allows an election challenge only after the election occurs.

Appeals court judges in New Orleans heard arguments for an hour on a similar lawsuit trying to block the election but issued no ruling. ...

In the 4th Circuit, attorney John Rawls claimed that if the same-sex marriage amendment is written into the state Constitution, gay and lesbian citizens would be deprived of rights that the document's Article One guarantees all the state's citizens. The only way to eliminate those rights, Rawls said, is for voters to change that part of the Constitution.

"The people of Louisiana have expectations of a clean, legal ballot. This amendment would take away rights that are inalienable and inviolate," he said.

"If this goes into the Constitution, I am sure, there will be a proposal that gays and lesbians, being of inherently immoral character, cannot practice law," said Rawls, who is a gay man.

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posted by Eve at 9:22 PM | link

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