Same Sex Marriage in Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, the legislature’s attempt to limit marriage to the traditional model, by defining it as a “civil contract by which one man and one woman take each other for husband and wife,” has been found unconstitutional. The legislature, in the wake of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), had passed a law limiting marriage to persons of the opposite sex, and barring recognition of same-sex marriages from other states. The Federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has now found the law to be unconstitutional. See ACLU article