Judge Rules Michigan Must Recognize 300 Same-sex Marriages

A federal judge has validated 300 same-sex marriages in Michigan. In his ruling, he called the marriages a "fundamental right."

"In these circumstances, what the state has joined together, it may not put asunder.," U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman stated.

The 300 couples were married last March after a federal judge struck down Michigan's ban on same sex marriage.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette released the following statement: “We are reviewing Judge Goldsmith’s decision but as I have said repeatedly, the sooner the United State Supreme Court makes a decision on this issue the better it will be for Michigan and America.”

In March, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder stated that while the marriages were legal at the time they were performed, the state of Michigan still would not recognize them until the stay on the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage was lifted.

Two days later, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would recognize the marriages, even if the state of Michigan did not.