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Judge strikes down Florida ban on same-sex marriage

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Judge strikes down Florida ban on same-sex marriage

A federal judge has struck down Florida's ban on same-sex marriage.

In a 33-page ruling handed down Thursday in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. District Court, Judge Robert Hinkle called the 2006 amendment to the state's constitution outlawing same-sex marriage “an obvious pretext for discrimination.”

The judge said the law unfairly deprives gay and lesbian couples of the same rights and benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples, as well as their rights to equal protection and due process under the U.S. Constitution.

“Liberty, tolerance and respect are not zero-sum concepts,” Judge Hinkle wrote. “Those who enter opposite-sex marriages are harmed not at all when others, including these plaintiffs, are given the liberty to choose their own life partners and are shown the respect that comes with formal marriage.”

State officials did not indicate immediately if they would appeal.

Judge Hinkle temporarily delayed implementation of his decision pending the final resolution of similar cases awaiting review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

To date, federal judges in 14 states have ruled in favor of gay and lesbian couples seeking equal marriage rights and benefits, as have judicial panels in two U.S. appeals courts.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 ruling in United States v. Edith Windsor, which invalidated provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, proponents of state-level prohibitions of same-sex marriage have prevailed in just one case.

A Roane County, Tennessee, Circuit Court judge ruled earlier this month that the state's anti-gay marriage law does not violate the U.S. Constitution, primarily because the U.S. Supreme Court has never explicitly held that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right.

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