By CNN Staff
(CNN) — A judge in Virginia has struck down the commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, according to court documents.
“These laws deny Plaintiffs their rights to due process and equal protection guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote in her opinion.
The decision comes just weeks after Virginia’s new Democratic leadership said it wouldn’t defend the ban in federal lawsuits.
“It’s time for the commonwealth to be on the right side of history and the right side of the law,” state Attorney General Mark Herring said at a news conference last month.
Virginia passed the ban in 2006.
The-CNN-Wire
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