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Beshear Asks Supreme Court To Rule On Same Sex Marriage Ban

Office of Ky Governor

In what some are calling an unusual move, Gov. Steve Beshear has filed a petition requesting the U.S. Supreme Court decide whether states can reject same-sex marriage.

It comes after a federal appeals court upheld Kentucky’s and several other states’ same-sex marriage bans.

Beshear says the nation’s highest court should decide whether states like Kentucky can prohibit same-sex marriage, and settle the question of whether Kentucky must recognize gay marriages performed out-of-state.

Plaintiff attorney Laura Landenwich says it is unique that Beshear is now asking the Supreme Court to decide the matter after being on the winning side of a lower court’s decision last month.

“It is everyone’s interest to settle the issue and not have so much uncertainty and not have people with rights that appear and disappear as they travel throughout the country,” said Ladenwich.

Landenwich says a decision from the Supreme Court as to whether the cases will be reviewed could come as early as January. She says oral arguments before the Supreme Court could begin in the summer.

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