LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is asking a federal appeals court to immediately freeze a judge's decision striking down the state's ban on gay marriage while he appeals.
Schuette's emergency request for the emergency stay and appeal were filed Friday with an appeals court in Cincinnati following federal Judge Bernard Friedman's ruling, which came two weeks after a trial. Two Detroit-area nurses who have been partners for eight years claimed the ban violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Nearly 60 percent of state voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage only as between a man and a woman.
Schuette said the will of Michigan voters "should stand and be respected."
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