Bobby Jindal falls in line on same-sex marriage

Washington, July 3

One week after the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can marry nationwide and states cannot ban such marriages, Louisiana's Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal has finally fallen in line.

The Republican presidential candidate had held off on abiding by the top court's ruling until a lower federal court ordered the state to do so Thursday, leaving him no legal path to maintain the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

After the court ruling, Louisiana officials on Thursday stopped enforcing the state's same-sex marriage ban and started issuing marriage licenses.

Jindal's spokesman, Mike Reed, told BuzzFeed News on Thursday that the court order directs state agencies "to comply and all questions about processing benefits should be directed to them."

Jindal was initially defiant when the Supreme Court ruled Friday, denouncing the decision in a statement from his presidential campaign as an "all out assault against the religious freedom rights of Christians who disagree."

Jindal's office also said Louisiana's policy would remain unchanged until the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals acted, adding that officials could continue to decline issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds.

"If any such state employee or official who asserts a religious objection is faced with a legal challenge for doing so, numerous attorneys have committed to defend their rights free of charge, subject to the facts of each case," Jindal's office said in a memo.

Though Jindal acknowledged on NBC Sunday that "We don't have a choice" and "Our agencies will comply with the court order" Louisiana state agencies continued to decline to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

Then on Wednesday, the 5th Circuit directed district courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to issue orders ending enforcement of same-sex marriage bans.

But even then, Reed said state agencies would "follow the Louisiana Constitution until the District Court orders us otherwise." On Thursday, the Eastern District Court of Louisiana issued that ruling and Jindal fell in line. —IANS