Within moments of the court's decision, AG Biondi and Gov Scott had filed a notice of intent to appeal. This was expected and is part of the process. Sadly, as part of the appeal, the 3rd District Court of Appeals has issued a stay on the order to issue marriage licenses in Monroe County.
Watch this space.
How does Attorney General Pam Bondi's appeal affect the ruling?
"The appeal automatically stays the decision, unless the judge lifts the stay," said Elizabeth Schwartz, the attorney in a Miami-Dade case where six same-sex couples are suing for the right to marry. "If the court decides to lift the stay, then yes, you can go and get married in Monroe County regardless of where you live."
If same-sex couples legally marry in Monroe County, are the marriages recognized by the rest of the state and the federal government?
"You'll be married, but you won't have all of the benefits that straight married couples have," said Rand Hoch, founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. "The state of Florida won't recognize it. The U.S. government will recognize it for almost everything with the exception of Social Security spousal benefits and Veterans Administration spousal benefits."
Can same-sex couples from out of state marry in Monroe County?
"Someone from out of state could come to Florida, as far as I'm interpreting it, and could marry in the Keys," said George Castrataro, a Fort Lauderdale attorney suing Florida Atlantic University to force Florida to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal. "When they go home, if their state doesn't recognize the marriages of other states, it would be pointless…or at least not valuable right now."
If same-sex couples get married in Monroe County, and the ruling is later overturned, do those marriages remain valid?
"There's no rule that binds everyone," Hoch said. "There's going to be a lot of confusion…Most likely the judge would say, 'If you were married, you're still married.' But there would be no more marriages."
"That has happened in a number of states where the floodgates got opened for a brief moment in time, then stopped," Castrataro said. "I've never known a state to have the ability to revoke a marriage that was entered into lawfully."
"If it were me, I would wait until the issue is settled and not be in some sort of legal limbo," Schwartz said.
What's next?
"There's about seven other lawsuits pending in Florida right now. So far, every judge that has looked at these – whether state or federal – has said this is discrimination," Hoch said. "As these cases move forward, ultimately there's going to be a ruling to bring marriage equality to Florida."
"I think there's going to be a culmination of legal opinions, that will not only make marriage itself a right that all Floridians can enter into, but it would also require Florida to recognize marriages from other states," Castrataro said.
"We're off to the appellate races and the conversation continues there," Schwartz said. "We've had an unbroken string of favorable opinions on marriage equality; it's certainly disappointing that our attorney general would continue to put resources behind what is a failing argument."
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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