A federal judge, US District Judge John Heyburn II, has ruled that the state of Kentucky MUST recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states.
The state of Kentucky had passed a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriages in the state and part of that amendment was to not recognize such marriages from other states.
Judge Heyburn ruled that the exclusion of marriages from other states was unconstitutional based off of the following rationale, that Kentucky’s laws treat gay and lesbians differently in a “way that demeans them.”
Heyburn DIDN’T say that the state of Kentucky had to perform same-sex marriages but that they did have to recognize the marriage licenses from other states.
Now, THIS is where things get interesting.
If the courts rule that a license issued in one state MUST be recognized by another then by extension my Pennsylvania License to Carry a Firearm MUST be acknowledged and accepted in the State of New York. I mean, as a gun owner, the state of New York has treated gun owners in demeaning ways for years and the state has gone out of its way to harrass and persecute out of state gun owners as well.
Travelers through the state of New York have been arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms even though they have followed the federal guideline for interstate travel. How often have travelers flying out of a New York airport been arrested and their property stolen by the authority’s their willful ignorance of the following clause:
Any person who is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if, during such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible or is directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such transporting vehicle: Provided, That in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.
That’s not even getting into the fact that every time I enter New York I am demeaned by having my rights stripped from me as if the Empire State took its nickname seriously and viewed itself as a different country completely. And that the people who are within its borders are somehow lesser citizens than those of the majority of other states.
Judge Heyburn has basically ruled that while NY can continue to treat its own residents like second class peons (which makes sense since New Yorkers elected the politicians who made it so), the state cannot abuse and deny the rights enjoyed by those from out of state.
Another example of the judicial sword cutting both ways.
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