Marriage Equality - Now in Nineteen States

Utah, Arkansas, you guys blew it. After your brief glories of being the eighteenth state with marriage equality (before ceding that position to Oregon), now you might have lost the chance to be the nineteenth state.

A federal judge has struck down Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage, stating that the ban violates the constitution.  Judge John Jones III wrote

that same sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.

Ironically, on the Reuters article, the first comment is from someone who feels that same-sex marriage should remain banned, because it makes her uncomfortable. Maybe she should read the decision.

Although the judge did not issue a stay, and Kathleen Kane, the Attorney General for Pennsylvania, did not defend the case, it seems likely that Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania's governor, will seek an appeal.

We've got a nineteenth state, for now. The next few days we'll see if this fundamental liberty is preserved in the Keystone State.