Pennsylvania court strikes down same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional

May 20, 2014

A federal court struck down as unconstitutional 's 1996 law banning today. Judge has ordered the state to start issuing licenses for same-sex couples.

The lawsuit was brought by the in July of last year. Lawyers argued the state's ban violated the of the. Pennsylvania's attorney general,, did not attempt to defend the ban, and has said she considers the law unconstitutional. Kane said today's decision "brings justice to Pennsylvanians who have suffered from unequal protection under the law because of their sexual orientation".

Pennsylvania's governor,, has not thus far responded to the ruling.

The decision in Pennsylvania followed a similar decision yesterday in striking down that state's marriage ban. Courts in a number of other states including, , , , , and have found state-level bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, although some of these decisions have not led to  couples being able to marry while appeals are ongoing.