An Ohio judge on Thursday vacated a
ruling that allowed the divorce decree of a gay couple.
Athens County Judge George McCarthy
explained that he “did not realize the parties were of the same
gender.”
According to the Athens
Messenger, McCarthy granted the divorce on November 25 on the
recommendation of Magistrate Melinda Bradford.
Brenda Mohney and Erin O'Leary married
six years ago in California. Mohney filed for divorce last July and
was the only party to appear before McCarthy.
Ohio voters in 2004 approved an
amendment to the Ohio Constitution which defines marriage as a
heterosexual union. The Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals recently ruled the amendment constitutional. Plaintiffs in
the case have appealed to the Supreme Court.
The parties in this case, McCarthy
wrote, “did not have a valid marriage for the purposes of Ohio
law.”
McCarthy did not address the ban's
constitutionality.
“The issue of same sex marriage is
one of nationwide concern, and higher courts than this will
eventually determine the constitutional issues related thereto with
finality,” he wrote.