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Judges Overturn Gay Marriage Bans in Mississippi and Arkansas

Judges Kristine Baker in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Carlton Reeves in Jackson, Mississippi, ruled that the bans on gay matrimony denied guarantees of equal protection under the law for gay couples.

U.S. district judges on Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional same-sex marriage bans in Arkansas and Mississippi, separately overturning measures that voters approved a decade ago in both socially conservative Southern states. Judges Kristine Baker in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Carlton Reeves in Jackson, Mississippi, ruled that the bans on gay matrimony denied guarantees of equal protection under the law for gay couples.

The back-to-back decisions were the latest in a flurry of federal court rulings striking down measures across the United States defining marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.

Both judges put enforcement of their rulings on hold in anticipation of appeals, meaning legal recognition of marriage for gay and lesbian couples was not imminent in either state.

Reeves said his ruling hinged on whether same-sex couples were capable of loving one another, being in committed relationships and being good parents, then rhetorically asked whether denying gays lesbians the right to marry subjected them to humiliation and "state-sanctioned prejudice."

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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