Judge Hears Virginia Gay Marriage Ban Case

A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., heard arguments Tuesday whether the state's ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional.

Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 defining marriage as the union of a man and woman. Now homosexual couples are suing to overturn the law.

Virginia's newly elected Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring decided last month that the state would stop defending the ban.

But on Monday, the House of Delegates passed a bill that allows lawmakers to defend a state law in court. The measure was passed to protect the 2006 voter-approved amendment when the governor or attorney general decide not to.

Republican state lawmakers argue Herring has abandoned his duty to uphold the state's laws.

U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, considered not even hearing verbal arguments because of the "compelling" filing by Herring's office. Wright Allen was appointed to the post by President Barack Obama, an outspoken supporter of gay marriage.

Because Herring decided to oppose Virginia's marriage law, the job of defending it falls to the Norfolk Circuit Court clerk's legal team.

In addition, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom will help defend the law on behalf of Prince William County's clerk, which has been allowed to file in the case.

"Virginians believe as they always have that every child has a right to know, be loved and raised by the mom and dad that brought them into this world. That's an imminently reasonable argument. Marriage is ancient because it's reasonable and is dependent upon the diversity of the sexes -- men and women -- the complementarity of men and women, and that's why marriage laws are constitutional, and we believe they should be upheld," Austin Nimocks, from ADF, said.

Meanwhile, Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers chided Virginia's top attorney for elevating his personal beliefs above the law in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post.

"I personally oppose a number of Colorado's laws as a matter of public policy, and a few are contrary to my religious beliefs. But as my state's attorney general, I have defended them all - and will continue to," Suthers told .

"Recently, however, attorneys general in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and California have given in to the temptation to abuse the power entrusted to our position by refusing to defend their states' bans on same-sex marriage in court," he continued. "This practice corrodes our system of checks and balances, public belief in the power of democracy, and ultimately the moral and legal authority on which attorneys general must depend."

Nationwide, activists are challenging more than a dozen state laws banning same-sex marriage.