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Saturday, February 15, 2014

Judge Strikes Down Virginia Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Marriage laws often overlap with employment laws, including FMLA, ERISA, and tax laws. I have previously explained how out-of-state marriage laws impact employers in Pennsylvania (which does not currently recognize same-sex marriages).

Well, Virginia just got a little more complicated as a judge struck down its ban on same-sex marriage. I lived in Virginia when this law was passed by voter referendum (I voted against it, if you're wondering). I should probably note that courts recently struck down similar prohibitions in Utah and New Mexico.

It's starting to look the writing is on the wall on this issue, but the United States still has some holdouts (notably, my state of Pennsylvania). If you're an employer in a holdout state, you need to keep tabs on what other states are doing for now.

One final note, the original opinion striking down Virginia's law included a humiliating gaffe - the judge quoted the Declaration of Independence and attributed it to "our Constitution." D'oh!

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