US: Republican lawyers draw comparison with child marriage in case against equal marriage clerk
Attorney’s for Pennsylvanian Governor, Tom Corbett have argued that granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples is no different than if the state were to issue licenses to children.
The administration of Governor Tom Corbett, and the state health department are currently suing D Bruce Hanes, a county clerk who has issued over a hundred marriage licences to same-sex couples, defying a state ban on equal marriage, because he said he thought it was unconstitutional.
The Corbett administration wants a judge to immediately order Hanes to cease issuing the marriage licences, however several mayors, unable to issue the licences themselves, have been conducting the wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.
While putting their arguments forward to the court the attorneys referred back to a 1996 law which defined marriage as only “a union between a man and a woman” The attorneys furthered added that marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples lacked “value or legitimacy.”
Concluding their argument they added that: “Had the clerk issued marriage licenses to 12-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each 12-year-old … is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his `license’?”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) warned against the weddings, as a lawsuit to have the state’s ban on equal marriage ruled unconstitutional, is currently pending.
