Michigan tries to say 300 marriages “never existed”

By John Mack Freeman

When I was growing up, there was a computer-based war game called Red Alert 2 that I really enjoyed. One of my favorite troops where the Chrono Legionnaire that could teleport anywhere on the map and instead of killing the enemy, they removed it from time entirely. Whenever you told them to attack, their affirmative sound cue was “Never existed.”

Apparently, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is also a fan, though he should probably have left the concept in fantasy where it belonged. This week, Snyder’s administration came out and said that they would treat the 300 same sex marriages that took place in Michigan in a brief open window between a court ruling and subsequent stay as if they “never existed.” This is because the Sixth Circuit has ruled that a same sex marriage ban is not unconstitutional. The state’s lawyers had this to say (via PinkNews):

“The Sixth Circuit’s decision in DeBoer affirmed the validity of Michigan’s Marriage Amendment, which states, ‘[t]o secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.’

“Now that the Sixth Circuit has reversed the district court’s decision in DeBoer, that condition cannot be met, and Plaintiffs’ marriages are therefore void.

“It is as if the legal premise upon which Plaintiffs’ marriages are based never existed.

“Consequently, from a legal standpoint, because the marriages rested solely on the district court’s erroneous decision, which has now been reversed, it is as if the marriages never existed, and Plaintiffs’ requests for benefits attendant to a legal marriage must be denied.”

This incredibly offensive and hurtful action will only serve to spur the Supreme Court into taking on a same sex marriage case to decide the issue once and for all for the entire country.

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