By , JTNews Correspondent
Cantor David Serkin-Poole and his partner Michael have their rings picked out, but they won’t be able to stand before a rabbi (or judge) to marry quite yet. Although King County Superior Court Judge William Downing ruled Wednesday that discriminating against same-sex couples wishing to marry was unconstitutional, the decision is stayed until the matter is reviewed by the state Supreme Court.
The ruling effectively strikes down the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which specifies that marriage must be between a man and a woman. Serkin-Poole, the cantor at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, was elated by the judge’s finding.
“It’s a great day that a judge in a court of law has ruled that all citizens, and all couples ought to have the same equal rights as anyone else,” he said.
Serkin-Poole saw Judge Downing’s ruling as “unequivocal,” and was gratified that the suit, argued by the Lambda Legal Defense Fund and the Northwest Women’s Law Center, was persuasive enough to convince the judge that their suit had merit.
“This is a chapter, but it’s an important chapter, and I sure prefer winning,” he said.
In March, the Serkin-Pooles, along with five other couples, filed suit against King County Executive Ron Sims seeking the right to be legally married in Washington State. Sims, who by following the law refused the couples’ marriage licenses, saw the refusal as a civil rights issue and welcomed the suit.
“I know personally what discrimination looks and feels like. I have also seen justice brought about through our courts. On issues from voting rights to interracial marriage, it has been the courts which have been the final arbiter. For this reason, I believe that our best course is to use the law in order to change the law,” said Sims in a statement.
Opposition to same-sex marriage has been fierce in past months, both in reaction to this suit and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in May. Demonstrators have stood in front of the King County Courthouse since the suit was filed, and a rally at Safeco Field on May 1 drew 20,000 supporters of traditional marriage, with messages by religious leaders that included one recorded by Toward Tradition’s Rabbi Daniel Lapin. The rally occurred on Shabbat and he was unable to attend.
Rob Jacobs, director of the Pacific Northwest Regional chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, applauded Judge Downing’s ruling.
“We believe that he has moved Washington State closer to a society where government-sanctioned discrimination against any group, including gay and lesbians, is no longer enshrined in the law,” he said.
Jacobs and ADL board president Mark Schuster added that they appreciated that the judge left religious organizations’ interpretation of the definition of marriage untouched.
When issuing his landmark ruling, Judge Downing used several case examples to explain his decision, taking into account procreation, morals, and the impact on society. In the case of procreation, he found that with many children born out of wedlock, offspring are no longer exclusive to the traditional model of marriage. He also cited inmate marriage — a “non-coital relationship” — and noted that procreation has never been a requirement placed upon marriage.
The judge wrote that sexual orientation has not been an obstacle to good parenting, and noted that several of the plaintiffs, including the Serkin-Pooles, have successfully raised children.
When addressing the moral argument, he wrote, “It is not for our secular government to choose between religions and take moral or religious sides in such a debate.” This argument has been upheld at the U.S. Supreme Court as well.
He also struck down religious arguments presented by the defense. “In our pluralistic society, in which church and state are kept scrupulously separate, the moral views of the majority can never provide the sole basis for legislation.”
The judge, when questioning whether same-sex marriage would have a negative effect on society, found that his “ruling truly favors both the interest of individual liberty and that of future generations.”
Cantor Serkin-Poole agreed. “It’s not about me, it’s about everybody’s right in this society to live with equality, and I’m honored that we’re some of the few faces put on it,” he said. “Nobody, no single heterosexual couple, no single family headed by heterosexuals is actually ever hurt by this, only helped.”