La. Homosexual Couple Asserts First Amendment Challenge to Denial of Marriage License, Alleging that Same Sex Marriage Ban Enforces Religious Definition of Marriage

The First Amendment Center reports on the filing of a challenge to Louisiana’s constitutional ban on same sex marriage.  In 2004 Louisiana voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. The suit mounts a First Amendment attack on the marriage ban arguing that the same sex prohibition denies access to the right to marry “based upon a religious interpretation of the nature and purpose of marriage itself." The suit goes on to assert that ‘[b]y failing to articulate a legitimate, compelling and secular interest for the restriction on marriage, the state has necessarily established a wholly religious civil institution".

JFB