US: North Dakota asks judge to throw out case challenging gay marriage ban
The US state of North Dakota has asked for a judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging its ban on same-sex marriage.
Seven same-sex couples in the state filed the lawsuit in June in federal court,meaning there are now no states in the US with unchallenged same-sex marriage bans.
The office of the state attorney general filed a motion late on Tuesday which responded to the lawsuit.
“Nothing in the United States Constitution prevents the people of North Dakota from defining marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman,” solicitor general Doug Bahr argued in the 50-page response.
“The people of North Dakota, through the deliberative political process, retain the traditional understanding of marriage as the union between a man and a woman,” Bahr continued.
He argued that the state is also not required to recognise the marriages of same-sex couples married in other states.
“The fact North Dakota’s marriage laws are different from the marriage laws of some other states does not establish a viable claim that the challenged provisions violate the right to interstate travel,” he wrote.
Voters in North Dakota approved a ban on same-sex marriage back in 2004, with 73%.
