Gay-Marriage Opponents Win in Court In Two States

Ariele Affigne of Providence, R.I., a volunteer for Mass Equality, a group supporting the right to gay marriage, participates in a rally supporting gay marriage outside the Statehouse in Boston, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. The Massachusetts legislators began working their way through a stack of proposed constitutional amendments, including one that would define marriage as the union of a man and woman. (AP Photo/Celina Fang) (Celina Fang - AP)

LINCOLN, Neb., July 14 -- Courts handed victories to opponents of same-sex marriage in two states Friday, reinstating Nebraska's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage and dismissing an attempt to keep a proposed ban off the ballot in Tennessee.

In the Nebraska case, the Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturned a ruling last year that the ban was too broad and deprived gay men and lesbians of participation in the political process.

Seventy percent of voters had approved the ban as a constitutional amendment in 2000.

Nebraska's amendment goes further than similar bans in many states, in that it also bars same-sex couples from many legal protections afforded heterosexual couples. For example, the partners of gay men and lesbians who work for the state cannot share their health insurance.

The court ruled the amendment "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate the Constitution of the United States."

In Tennessee, the state Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that contended the state failed to meet its own notification requirements for a ballot measure asking voters to ban same-sex marriage. The high court ruled unanimously that the ACLU did not have standing to file the suit.

Tennessee already had a law banning same-sex marriage, but lawmakers who supported the proposed amendment said they wanted a backup in case the law was overturned. Similar steps have been taken in many of the other 44 states that have specifically barred same-sex marriage through statute or constitutional amendment.