OLYMPIA – The Washington state Supreme Court expects to issue its long-awaited ruling Wednesday in a case challenging the state’s gay marriage ban, justices announced.
The news surprised those who expected a decision after the fall elections, and sent supporters and opponents of gay marriage rushing to prepare.
If the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act is overturned, Washington would become the second state after Massachusetts to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. But while Massachusetts’ gay marriage rights extend only to residents, Washington state marriage licenses carry no residency restrictions.
Sleep will be difficult while awaiting the court’s decision, said David Shull, 47, a plaintiff in the case.
“After 16 months, it’s just stunning,” Shull said in a phone interview from his south Seattle home. “But it’s thrilling, it really is exciting.”
The court’s short announcement, posted on its Web site Tuesday, gave no indication of how it might rule.
Observers see three possible outcomes: The court could uphold the gay marriage ban, could overturn the ban and institute its own remedy, or could find the ban illegal and ask the Legislature to provide a solution. Lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Olympia until January.
The 38 plaintiffs in the case – 19 gay and lesbian couples seeking to marry – challenged the constitutionality of the state law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
In 2004, judges in King and Thurston counties overturned the marriage law, citing the state constitution’s “privileges and immunities” section. The cases were consolidated for Supreme Court review.
In arguments before the Supreme Court in March 2005, plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the gay marriage ban violates a constitutional prohibition against granting privileges to one group of citizens and not another. They also argued the ban violates the state’s Equal Rights Amendment.
Attorneys defending the marriage law said the state has a rational reason for limiting marriage to heterosexual couples, because the state has an interest in regulating relationships that produce children.
Gay marriage supporters were cautiously optimistic Tuesday.
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