An Adams County District Court judge on Wednesday declared Colorado’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, but he immediately stayed his ruling.
Judge C. Scott Crabtree pulled no punches in his 49-page ruling, saying the state’s voter-approved ban “bears no rational relationship to any conceivable government interest.”
The ruling makes Colorado the latest in a string of 16 states that have seen their bans on same-sex marriages tossed out by state and federal judges.
The ruling came as another judge in Boulder County considered a request by Attorney General John Suthers to stop a county clerk from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. And last week, attorneys filed a federal lawsuit seeking to challenge Colorado’s gay marriage ban.
Attorneys for 18 plaintiffs — nine couples — from Denver and Adams counties argued that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
“We are ecstatic. There is much cheering in our house,” Sandra Abbott said after Crabtree’s ruling. She and her partner, Amy Smart, were one of the nine couples in the lawsuit. “We waited a long time for this ruling.”
Suthers’ office said it will appeal the ruling.
Crabtree said he “heartily endorses” a recent ruling by a Denver-based federal appeals court in a similar case.
“The Court holds that the Marriage Bans violate plaintiffs’ due process and equal protection guarantees under the Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” Crabtree said in his ruling.
“The existence of civil unions is further evidence of discrimination against same-sex couples and does not ameliorate the discriminatory effect of the Marriage Bans.”
Crabtree also said: “If civil unions were truly the same as marriages, they would be called marriages and not civil unions. If they were the same, there would be no need for both of them.”
The judge acknowledged that his court would not offer the final word on the subject. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently tossed out Utah’s similar ban on gay marriage.
“The final chapter of this debate will undoubtedly have to be written either in Denver, Colorado or Washington, D.C.,” the judge wrote. “While the striking down of laws banning same-sex marriages has been progressing at a rapid rate, it will take time for this issue to be finally resolved.”
DOCUMENT: Read the judge’s ruling here.
Crabtree said he was issuing a stay to “avoid the instability and uncertainty which would result” without a stay.
Last week, Suthers’ office filed requests with Crabtree and the judge overseeing the federal lawsuit, asking them to issue stays until higher courts rule on the issue.
“Judge Crabtree’s order reaffirms the fact that the fate of Colorado’s same-sex marriage law will rest with the United States Supreme Court,” Suthers said in a statement. “The Court properly found that the instability and uncertainty that would result from not staying the decision, including the issuance of marriage licenses by county clerks in the state, necessitate that the order be stayed.”
John McHugh, one of the attorneys representing the couples from Denver, said he hopes to have “every county clerk in this state issuing same-sex marriages licenses as soon as we can.”
McHugh also praised Crabtree addressing each of the state’s claims in his ruling.
“I think what I find telling is that Judge Crabtree actually says that the justifications the state uses to deny same-sex couples marriage are just pretext for discrimination,” McHugh said. “I think that is an important ruling, that this isn’t just about protecting marriage, this is about discrimination against same-sex couples.”
Most of the plaintiffs in the case recognize that Crabtree’s order does not mark the end of case, but it didn’t stop them from celebrating.
“I will marry my wife over and over again — everyday if I have to — until our state recognizes it,” said Michelle Alfredsen. “What a terrific day to be a Colorado citizen.”
Alfredsen and her wife were the first couple to receive a marriage license from the Boulder Clerk’s Office.
Kris McDaniel-Miccio is a law professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law and a plaintiff in the case. McDaniel-Miccio, who is a visiting professor at Trinity College in Ireland, first learned of the ruling via an e-mail from her attorney.
“I think it is absolutely amazing,” McDaniel-Miccio said. “If it wasn’t so late here I would go to the local pub and buy everyone a Guinness. It’s a life dream come true.”
The judge’s ruling also dismissed a complaint that alleged that Gov. John Hickenlooper violated plaintiffs’ equal protection or due process rights by maintaining the ban.
During arguments last month, Suthers’ office defended the state ban, arguing that all of the judges who had struck down similar measures in other states were wrong.
But Crabtree mocked the state’s argument that Colorado’s ban protects the “nature of marriage” and the ability to produce children.
Also on Wednesday, the AG’s office asked a Boulder District Court judge to order Boulder Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Suthers filed a lawsuit against Hall last week, arguing that she is ignoring Colorado law by issuing such licenses.
Hall began issuing the licenses on June 25, hours after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Utah’s ban. Her office has issued more than 100 licenses, which the AG’s office says are invalid.
Boulder District Court Judge Andrew Hartman did not issue a ruling after Wednesday’s hearing, but he said he would do so “shortly.”
Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794, jsteffen@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jsteffendp
