維吉尼亞同性戀婚姻禁令被法官否決

A federal judge has found the ban on gay marriage in the southeastern U.S. state of Virginia to be unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled late Thursday that Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage violates the right to due process and equal protection under the law. However, Wright Allen imposed a stay on his decision so no couples can marry before unless his ruling is upheld on appeal.

Currently, 17 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. allow same-sex marriage, while 33 states ban it. Virginia's gay marriage dispute is likely to go on to the Supreme Court.

Judge Wright Allen said Virginia's marriage laws unconstitutionally deny gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental freedom to choose to marry.

The Virginia decision comes just weeks after judges threw out bans on gay marriage in Oklahoma and in Utah.

In Indiana this week, a judge ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage will not go to a referendum vote in November.

Also this week, a judge in Kentucky ruled that the state must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, although the court did not rule on the the constitutionality of performing same-sex marriages in Kentucky.美國一位聯邦法院法官裁定維吉尼亞州的同性戀婚姻禁令違反了憲法。

美國聯邦地區法院法官阿瑞達.萊特.艾倫星期四做出裁決，維吉尼亞州禁止同性戀婚姻違反了美國憲法所保障的“正當法律程序”（due process）和“平等保護”（equal protection）。不過萊特.艾倫法官同時決定暫停執行她的這項裁決，要等到裁決經過上訴後維持原判才允許同性戀結婚。

目前美國17個州加上首都華盛頓允許同性婚姻，33個州禁止同性婚姻。維吉尼亞州的這場同性婚姻之爭很有可能一路打到聯邦最高法院。

聯邦法官萊特.艾倫說，維吉尼亞州的婚姻法拒絕同性男女選擇結婚對象的基本自由，違反了憲法。

就在幾個星期前奧克拉荷馬州和猶他州的法官也推翻了對同性婚姻的禁令。

在印第安納州一位法官這個星期裁決同性婚姻禁令不會在今年11月的選舉中由全民公決來決定。

另外，本星期在肯塔基州，一位法官裁決，肯塔基州必須承認在其他州結婚的同性伴侶，不過法院沒有裁定肯塔基州是否應該允許同性戀者結婚。