KY Ruling Big "Fuck You" to the Sixth Circuit

Freakazoid deniers of human rights to human beings are pissing into the wind. It's game over, morons. It might take a year for the Supreme Court to put it in writing, but it's over. Teh Gheys won, and you motherfuckers lost. LOST.

Bruce Schreiner, AP:

A Kentucky judge has granted a divorce to a same-sex couple — even though the state does not recognize gay marriage.

Kentucky law says that same-sex marriages performed elsewhere are void in the state, and any rights granted by virtue of the marriage, or its termination, are unenforceable in Kentucky courts. But in his recent ruling in Louisville, Judge Joseph O'Reilly said that denying same-sex couples the right to divorce would run counter to constitutional protections.

"The Bill of Rights of the Kentucky Constitution recognizes and provides that all persons are equal," wrote O'Reilly, a Jefferson County Family Court judge. "That includes same-sex couples. ... To permit legally married heterosexual couples to dissolve their marriages and deny legally married same-sex couples the right to dissolve their marriages constitutes the grant of separate privileges to legally married heterosexual couples in violation of the Bill of Rights of the Kentucky Constitution."

Both attorneys in the case said they believe the judge's action was a first in the state, and said their clients were satisfied with the outcome. It was first reported by The Courier-Journal.

"I'm thrilled that Judge O'Reilly had the courage to do what he did," said Louis Waterman, who represented Alysha Romero in the divorce from Rebecca Romero. The ruling will not face an appeal because the only parties who could have sought one were the Romeros, Waterman said.

SNIP

Chris Hartman, director of the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign, a gay-advocacy group, said the judge's ruling was historic.

"Even divorce is a fundamental right if we're going to afford LGBT couples all the legal rights of marriage," he said. "So it simply is one more step in the direction of LGBT couples having the same legal rights.