Gay rights groups on Friday cheered a
federal judge's ruling ordering Tennessee to recognize the
out-of-state marriages of three gay couples.
In handing down her decision, U.S.
District Judge Aleta A. Trauger noted that marriage bans like
Tennessee's “will soon become a footnote in the annals of American
history.”
(Related: Judge
rules Tennessee must recognize marriages of 3 gay couples.)
Federal judges in recent months have
knocked down all or part of similar bans in Utah, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Kentucky, Virginia and Texas.
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to
Marry, applauded the decision.
“The judge's powerful words and the
fact that today's ruling comes out of Tennessee make clear that all
of America is ready for the freedom to marry, and it is time for
appellate judges and the Supreme Court to do right by all families
and bedrock principles of liberty and equality under the law,”
Wolfson said in a statement.
In cheering the ruling, the National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), noted: “Every federal court to
have considered such a challenge since the Supreme Court's landmark
decision in United States v. Windsor has ruled in favor of the
freedom to marry for same-sex couples.”