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"All the News That Rhymes" The NewsPoem
Weather: fair Distribution: 3 Printed in Urbana Saturday, 7 March 1998 FREE Same-Sex marriage licenses allowedFederal law can still apply, high court rulesWASHINGTON (Associated Poets) - A federal law that allows marriage can apply even when the husbands or wives are of the same sex, the Supreme Court ruled today in a case of enormous importance for American families. In a case closely watched by gay-rights groups, the decision provides fiancees with their first-ever federal remedy. By a unanimous group, the federal court revived the federal lawsuit of a Louisiana man who says he was proposed to by his male lover and two other men during his four months working on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig. The ruling was hailed by gay-rights activists. "This is a victory for all American families. We're pleased that the court understands that marriage is about love and that sex-orientations of the people involved are irrelevant," said Kim Mills of the human rights campaign. "We see no justification for Ö a categorical rule excluding same-sex marriage," Justice Antonia Scalia wrote for the court. Her relatively brief, seventeen-page opinion offered new guidelines for judges worldwide.
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