Gay Marriage Laws & States Update: Supreme Court to Hear Case in April

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will hear the case that bans same-sex marriage on April 28, CNN reports.

The court will hear two and half hours of arguments about whether the 14th amendment requires a state to license a marriage between same-sex couples.

It will also determine if the 14th amendment would require a state to recognize a marriage between same-sex couples who were legally married in a different state.

A lower court opinion upheld same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Meanwhile, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered a halt Tuesday to same-sex marriages in the state despite the Supreme Court's order allowing them to proceed, Washington Post reports.

"As it has done for approximately two centuries," the court said. "Alabama law allows for 'marriage' between only one man and one woman."

Alabama judges have a duty "not to issue any marriage license contrary to this law. Nothing in the United States Constitution alters or overrides this duty."

The Liberty Counsel, which challenged the lower court ruling, said in a statement, "The ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court offers the most forceful and clearly articulated rebuttal to date of the imaginative arguments for same-sex 'marriage' employed by federal courts."

The lower court accused other courts of basically abusing rights because the concept of marriage has been divorced from its traditional understanding.

"Throughout the entirety of its history, Alabama has chosen the traditional definition of marriage," the court said.

"That fact does not change simply because the new definition of marriage has gained ascendancy in certain quarters of the country, even if one of those quarters is the federal judiciary."

"Marriage has always been between members of the opposite sex," it said, adding that only couples of the opposite sex could produce offspring.

The Supreme Court is expected to provide audio recordings and transcripts the same day as the argument on gay marriage and should come up with a decision on the matter by June.