The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) is urging Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to appeal a federal
judge's Tuesday ruling striking down the state's law prohibiting gay
couples from marrying.
In ruling the state's restrictive
marriage law unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones
recommended that such laws be discarded “into the ash heap of
history.”
(Related: Federal
judge strikes down Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban.)
Corbett's office said Tuesday that the
governor was studying the ruling and considering options.
NOM President Brian Brown condemned
Jones' decision in a
blog post.
“Pennsylvania voters have long
sought, and been denied, the right to vote on the issue of marriage.
This ruling adds insult to injury, as it leaves the citizens of
Pennsylvania doubly disenfranchised. Members of the Pennsylvania
legislature have been actively working for years to put this matter
to the voters, which makes Judge Jones' cavalier decision even more
brazen and unjust. The ruling unilaterally makes an end-run around
the democratic process and places the capricious will of one man
above the desires of millions of citizens,” Brown said.
“We know from the stay granted in the
case in Utah that the Supreme Court believes these matters should be
thoroughly debated and legally argued, and that there is nothing
‘inevitable' about marriage redefinition. The administration owes
it to the people of Pennsylvania to pursue this matter vigorously
through the court system, and give marriage the defense it requires
and deserves. This is especially true in Pennsylvania, where the
people have already seen the insult of the Attorney General
abandoning her oath of office and refusing to defend marriage. The
administration stepped in to right that wrong in this case, and we
urge them to continue to render justice by providing a defense of
Pennsylvania's marriage laws.”