Six South Dakota couples challenge gay marriage ban

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Six couples filed a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking to block South Dakota's gay marriage ban, leaving North Dakota as the only state in the country with an unchallenged law prohibiting same-sex weddings.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls, challenges a 1996 law passed by the Legislature and a voter-approved 2006 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which means such cases are now pending in 30 states with gay marriage bans. The lawsuit also challenges a U.S. provision allowing states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

... South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said he's obligated by law to defend the ban and that he believes that voters should decide whether same-sex couples should be able to marry. It's possible that the U.S. Supreme Court or another federal court could hear another state's lawsuit first, which would put South Dakota's case on hold, he said.

Read more: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/local/2014/05/22/six-south-dakota-couples-challenge-gay-marriage-ban/9458003/

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. My home state is going to have to join the 21st Century, whether it likes it or not.

I hate to slag on South Dakota, but there's a reason I don't spend much time there.

This is a place where farmers put up dead fetus anti-abortion signs in their fields along the highways.

And then there's the weather. Blizzards and tornadoes.

[SoapBox]

2. Bravo.

I'm glad they are going to do this.