Gay Marriage Shot Down Again

In a case that is similar to the one currently under way in California, the Wisconsin Supreme Court shot down gay marriage supporters who were trying to overrule the will of the voters:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage and civil unions in a unanimous ruling Wednesday that disappointed gay rights advocates.

The court's 7-0 ruling concluded that the constitutional amendment was properly put to voters in a statewide referendum in 2006. Justices rejected a lawsuit that claimed the amendment violated a rule limiting constitutional amendments to a single subject.

The question asked voters whether marriage should be limited to one man and one woman and whether to outlaw any "legal status identical or substantially similar" to marriage for same-sex couples. Nearly 60 percent of voters approved.

The lawsuit, filed by a voter opposed to the amendment, argued that the amendment consisted of two questions that could have reached different results had they been asked separately: whether to ban gay marriage, and whether to ban civil unions. Polling showed greater support for civil unions in which same-sex couples are granted marriage rights.

Writing for the court, Justice Michael Gableman rejected that argument. He said both parts of the question had the same general subject: preserving the current legal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

"The first sentence preserves the one man-one woman character of marriage by so limiting marriages entered into or recognized in Wisconsin," Gableman wrote. "The second sentence, by its plain terms, ensures that no legislature, court or any other government entity can get around the first sentence" by recognizing unions of same-sex couples, he wrote.

A decision is set to be announced in a similar case in California in the next couple of weeks, though with California judges the outcome is always in question even though the case seems as straightforward (no pun intended) as the Wisconsin case.