A federal judge on Friday rejected two
separate attempts to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's gay
marriage ban.
According
to the AP, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III denied the
motions filed by Pennsylvania's secretaries of the department of
Health and Revenue and Bucks County's register of wills.
Jones advised lawyers to be “fully
prepared” to discuss a trial date during a scheduled November 22
conference.
The lawsuit is one of at least six
filed in recent months challenging Pennsylvania's 17-year-old law
that defines marriage as a heterosexual union and prohibits the
recognition of marriages entered into by gay couples under the laws
of another state.
The lawsuit ignited a chain of events
that led to the additional challenges.
After Pennsylvania Attorney General
Kathleen Kane said she could not defend the state's law because it
was unconstitutional, Montgomery County Register of Wills Bruce Hanes
independently began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
Hanes issued 174 marriage licenses
before a court ordered him to stop.
Several couples who married with
licenses obtained in Montgomery County filed separate lawsuits asking
the courts to recognize their marriages as valid.