Philly Jewish Teacher Lauds Official’s Refusal To Defend Gay Marriage Ban
The Jewish teacher who sued to lift Pennsylvania’s gay marriage ban told the Forward that she is pleased that the state’s attorney general has refused to defend the law.
“We are both incredibly delighted because it’s such good news for the case,” said Helena Miller, referring to her wife, Dara Raspberry. “We were both very proud of our attorney general for taking such a strong stand for equality.”
Miller’s Connecticut marriage to Raspberry is not recognized in Pennsylvania due to a 1996 state law. The two are among more than 20 plaintiffs in a federal suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on July 9 that challenges that law.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced July 11 that she thought the state’s anti-same sex marriage law was unconstitutional, and that she would not defend it in federal court.
That doesn’t mean that the court fight is over. Other named defendants in the case, including the governor’s office, could still choose to defend the law.
“We don’t know what the goveror’s intentions are at this point,” said Molly Tack-Hooper, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The lawsuit is certainly not going away because of this.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO