Gay couples challenge (Nevada) same-sex marriage ban in court

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Gay couples challenge same-sex marriage ban in court

By Steve Gorman

Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:41am EDT

(Reuters) - Eight same-sex couples have filed suit in U.S. federal court challenging Nevada's gay marriage ban as unconstitutional and saying the state's domestic-partnership statute relegates them to second-class status.

The lawsuit came two months after a U.S. appeals court struck down a similar voter-passed ban on same-sex matrimony next door in California, marking one of several victories by gay-marriage advocates on various legal and legislative fronts this year.

Nevada's voters approved a state constitutional amendment in back-to-back elections in 2000 and 2002 barring same-sex marriage, establishing that "only a marriage between a male and a female person shall be recognized and given effect."

The state legislature later enacted a separate law in 2009 bestowing substantially the same rights, protections and benefits of marriage on gay and lesbian couples who registered as domestic partners.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-usa-gaymarriage-nevada-idUSBRE83A0P320120411

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[mitchtv]

2. this is great news,the path to victory

fight for equal treatment. take the small victories like domestic partners and such, use them, then sue, because seperate but equal is never equal. Never say "thank you" for rights obtained, they are your own.