Both sides delivered their closing arguments Friday in the legal challenge to Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage.
A lesbian couple wants to get married so they can jointly adopt the three special needs kids they’re raising together. They say the marriage ban denies their children equal protection, and is unconstitutional.
Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown is technically a defendant in the case. But Brown says she wants the federal judge to strike down the ban. Brown says she will start issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples at the earliest opportunity.
“Because I think same-sex couples have been treated like second-class citizens long enough, that they deserve equal protection under the law, that marriage is a fundamental right and they should be allowed to get married,” she says.
The state attorney general is defending the ban. The state’s position is the judge should respect the wishes of 2.7 million voters who approved the ban in 2004.
The federal judge in the case says he hopes to have an opinion ready in two weeks or less.