Broward County Judge Strikes Down Gay Marriage Ban

Another South Florida judge has struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

Broward County Circuit Judge Dale Cohen ruled Monday that Florida's 2008 ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

This court believes that the issue here is not whether there is a right to same-sex marriage but instead whether there is a right to marriage from which same-sex couples can be excluded," Cohen wrote in his ruling. "The state of Florida cannot ignore the status and dignity afforded to opposite-sex couples, who were married out-of-state, and not extend those same rights, dignities and benefits to same-sex couples similarly situated.

The case in Broward County does not deal with the right to marry, but rather the state's recognition of a same-sex marriage performed in another state. The case deals with a Vermont woman, Heather Brassner, who filed a civil union with another woman, Megan Lade, in 2002, two years before gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. Same-sex marriage became legal in Vermont in 2009.

Brassner says Lade later disappeared -- and now she's got a new partner she'd like to marry. One big problem: Florida doesn't recognize the Vermont civil union, and so Brassner can't be granted a divorce.

Cohen's ruling isn't the first to rock Florida's marriage rift. Last month, a Monroe County judge ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.