OKLAHOMA Same-Sex Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional!

Wow! A federal judge has ruled that Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage violates the United States constitution.

Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner reports:

“The Court holds that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” U.S. District Court Judge Terence Kern wrote.

The ruling will not go into effect immediately, Kern decided, issuing a stay of his decision based on the recent Supreme Court action granting a stay in the case challenging Utah’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages.

The case, which was filed back in November 2004, is the longest pending marriage equality case in the country. The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 3, 2004, the day after voters there passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying.

The lawsuit had challenged both the federal government’s ban on recognition of same-sex couples’ marriages in the Defense of Marriage Act, as well as Oklahoma’s ban, but the intervening Supreme Court ruling striking down that part of DOMA, Section 3, rendered that portion of the lawsuit moot.

Amazing news! In deep, dark red states, federal judges are realizing that the words of the United States Constitution that say "equal protection of the laws" means everyone.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God