Attorney Monte Neil Stewart presents arguments in favor of gay marriage bans at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday, Sept. 8, 2014.SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court in San Francisco waded again into the debate over the constitutionality of gay marriage, with attorneys for both sides arguing over whether legalizing it would harm children.
The three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – two of whom have ruled in previous cases in favor of gay rights – reserved many of their most pointed questions at the defenders of state bans in Idaho, Nevada and Hawaii.
Judge Marsha Berzon appeared critical of the attorney defending two of the bans, saying he was sending a message that families headed by same-sex couples were “second-rate.”
“You’re sending a message that these are less desirable families” she said. “That is what you’re doing. That is what you say you’re doing.”
The hearing is the first time since it declared California’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional that the 9th Circuit is listening to arguments over same-sex weddings in a political and legal climate that’s vastly different than when it overturned Proposition 8 in 2012. State and federal court judges have been striking down bans in more than a dozen states at a rapid rate since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.