Federal appeals court rules against Virginia’s gay marriage ban
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a ruling declaring Virginia’s constitutional ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled 2-1 in support of a February decision that struck down the state’s 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
“The choice of whether and whom to marry is an intensely personal decision that alters the course of an individual’s life,” Judge Henry F. Floyd wrote in the majority’s 63-page opinion. “Denying same — sex couples this choice prohibits them from participating fully in our society, which is precisely the type of segregation that the Fourteenth Amendment cannot countenance.”...