LOS ANGELES: In another setback for defenders of same-sex marriage, the United States state of Washington ruled on Wednesday that a law defining marriage as strictly between a man and a woman does not violate the state constitution.
The Washington court narrowly rejected arguments by a group of same-sex couples who said they were unfairly denied full marriage rights by the state's Defense of Marriage Act of 1998.
The act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, was upheld by the court by a vote of 5 to 4.
"The legislature was entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite sex couples furthers the state's legitimate interests in procreation and the well-being of children," wrote Justice Barbara Madsen in the decision.
Dissenting Justice Mary Fairhurst disagreed with this logic. "Denying same-sex couples the right to marry has no prospect for furthering any of those interests," she wrote.
The plaintiffs, 19 same-sex couples, sought full marriage rights, not civil unions as are offered in the states of Vermont and Connecticut.
Many gays criticize civil unions as not carrying all the benefits and rights of marriage.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York earlier this month also ruled a state law constitutional that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Although Congress recently voted down a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, 45 of 50 states have laws that limit marriage as only between opposite-sex couples.
Massachusetts is the only US state that allows gay marriage.
