Pennsylvania Attorney General Refuses to Defend State’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban
July 12, 2013 by Maureen McCarty, HRC Senior Digital Strategist
Yesterday Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that she will not defend the state’s same-sex marriage ban against a challenge filed this week by 10 same-sex couples and one widow.
The lawsuit challenges Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibit same-sex marriage in addition to denying recognition to same-sex marriages legally entered into in other states.
At a news conference in Philadelphia, Kane said she believes the state’s law is unconstitutional.
“We are the land of the free and the home of the brave, and I want to start acting like that,” Kane said. "It is our duty, each and every one of us, to protect the constitutionality, to protect the rights and dignity of others, and to protect the equality of all men and women in this Commonwealth."
Kane and Rep. Gov. Tom Corbett are defendants in the suit. According to Kane, the state general counsel will now take over the case.
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