PA Judge to Rule in New Hope Anti-Marriage Suit

October 9, 2004

NEW HOPE, PA — A judge has indicated that he likely will rule against a dozen state lawmakers who tried to strengthen the state's ban on same-sex marriages by suing two gay men who want to marry.

Bucks County Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg said at a hearing Friday that he had serious doubts as to whether plaintiffs' action will survive. Goldberg said that his instinct was to issue a ruling from the bench, but that he would instead release his decision shortly.

Robert Seneca, 49, and Stephen Stahl, 55, of New Hope, tried to apply for a marriage license in March at the Bucks County Courthouse, but Register of Wills Barbara G. Reilly said she couldn't legally accept an application for a same-sex union. Seneca and Stahl later said they would consider filing a lawsuit appealing her decision.

The 11 Republicans and one Democrat who sponsored the state's 1996 Defense of Marriage Act said they filed their suit in an attempt to have the law affirmed before Seneca and Stahl seek to have it declared unconstitutional.

Stahl, 55, a theater director and Republican committeeman, said he could not comment until the judge makes a ruling, but I'm feeling good. Seneca, 49, a salesman at a New Hope art gallery, called the lawmakers' lawsuit ridiculous ... it's insane.

The state's marriage laws were threatened because Seneca and Stahl sought a marriage license application and because they had said in newspaper interviews that they would challenge the laws, argued attorney Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based agency fighting same-sex unions.

Goldberg said that published comments do not necessarily indicate intentions, and he asked Lavy why the lawmakers were in such a rush to sue when the men had not yet challenged the law.

Lavy said that 50 lawsuits have been filed nationwide challenging marriage laws. If it weren't for the repeated pattern, we would have waited for a lawsuit when it was filed, he said.

In August, Stahl and Seneca marked the 25th anniversary of their commitment ceremony.