U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle agreed with four other Florida state judges and found the same-sex marriage ban that was enacted in 2008 unconstitutional.
Hinkle issued a stay in the ruling, so same-sex marriages won’t begin until a review by the US Supreme Court on the Utah, Virginia, and Oklahoma hearings has been completed.
Like most judges, Hinkle found the same-sex marriage ban in violation of the 14th Amendment and drew comparison between same-sex and interracial couples.
“Now, nearly 50 years later, the arguments supporting the ban on interracial marriage seem an obvious pretext for racism; it must be hard for those who were not then of age to understand just how sincerely those views were held,” he said. “When observers look back 50 years from now, the arguments supporting Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage, though just as sincerely held, will again seem an obvious pretext for discrimination. Observers who are not now of age will wonder just how those views could have been held.”
