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| US court backs gay marriage ban |
| The top court in Washington state in the US has upheld a gay marriage ban.
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 27-April-2007
3:53:13 AM |
| The court backed the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in the state eight years ago to limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
Nineteen same-sex couples had challenged the law, but the court ruled against them by five votes to four.
The judges stressed that they were not ruling on the rights or wrongs of gay marriage itself, but only on whether the current law was constitutional.
The decision follows a string of setbacks for same-sex marriage advocates in other parts of the US.
Forty-five of the 50 states have passed laws or amended their constitutions to effectively prohibit same-sex marriages.
marriage is currently legal in only one US state - Massachusetts.
Gay rights campaigners reacted with disappointment and anger to the Washington decision.
"There aren't words to describe how hurt people in the gay and lesbian community are," said gay state Democratic Representative Ed Murray of Seattle.
"There's a lot of tears and a lot of anger right now. Emotion is raw."
"I feel really angry," said another campaigner, Nancy Sigafoos, at the court with her partner and daughter.
"I've been in a relationship for 14 years. I have a child with my partner. I'm struggling not to use any expletives right now."
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