Eight same-sex couples and the ACLU filed suit in federal court to make Florida recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where such marriages are legal—19 states and the District of Columbia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi says that to compel Florida to
recognize such marriages would disrupt existing marriage laws and “impose
significant harm.” The love and
companionship of any truly loving couple should trump anyone’s or any state’s “inconvenience”. I’m sure the Virginia attorney general felt
like Ms. Bondi does in the case of Loving
v. Virginia when the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that interracial marriage
bans were unconstitutional. Virginia’s
marriage laws were not disrupted (other than being unable to ban such
marriages) and I’m quite sure no harm was done.
Ms. Bondi apparently fails to recognize Article IV, Section
1 of the Constitution, the Full Faith and Credit clause, which states that each
state must recognize the public acts, credits, and judicial proceedings of
every other state. In addition, Section
2 states that the citizens of each state shall be accorded the privileges and
immunities of citizens in all the other states.
Apparently those in power in Tallahassee wave the Constitution in
everyone’s faces when it serves their purposes but conveniently ignore it when
it is at odds with their purposes. Ms.
Bondi, being an officer of the court, has a duty to make sure all laws are
applied equally and fairly. When the
basic law of our society states that Florida must recognize the acts of Washington,
New York, Minnesota, Illinois, or the District of Columbia, it means just
that. No state is allowed to pick and
choose which laws it wishes to honor. It
must accept all state laws of another state.
Florida agreed to do so when it decided to petition for statehood and
again later when it rejoined the Union after the Civil War. The Constitution is the compact that binds us
all together, like it or not. Let all
honor that compact rather than trying to pick it apart when it suits our
purposes.
If Florida persists in fighting this fight rather than
conceding that the Constitution trumps any conflicting state law I would hope
that, not only would the suit be won for those involved but also follow the
current legal and societal trends of overturning Florida’s ban on same-sex
marriage and recognizing all marriages, regardless.
It has yet to be published in either paper, but I am optimistic that it will be soon.
