Good News for Nebraska

If you’re not a bigot, that is.

A federal judge has overturned the gay marriage ban that was passed by Nebraska voters during the 2000 election. This was one of the bans that was particularly punitive, banning more than just marriage, including all of the associated benefits and legal protections of marriage. And it was exactly because it went so far overboard that the judge found it unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled Thursday the ban "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of gays "and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs' right to petition or to participate in the political process."

Bataillon said the ban "goes far beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman."

[…]

The judge said the "broad proscriptions could also interfere with or prevent arrangements between potential adoptive or foster parents and children, related persons living together, and people sharing custody of children as well as gay individuals."

This is good news, an encouraging precedent for Lambda Legal and the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Project which bought the challenge in Nebraska, because many other states are trying to pass exactly the same kind of legislation, so Lambda and the ACLU have lots of work ahead of them—even in Nebraska, where State Attorney General Jon Bruning has already noted he will appeal the ruling.

It’s no wonder Bush is so determined to stack the federal courts with his wingnut appointees. As long as there are reasonable men and women on the bench who interpret the law fairly, there will never be a way to stop the steady march of progress, because those of us who believe in equal rights for all aren’t about to sit down on the job.