U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II all but laughed the commonwealth’s case against same-sex marriage out of court. “These arguments are not those of serious people,” he wrote.

Lawyers on behalf of the state argued that natural procreation was necessary to economic stability.

Louisville Courier-Journal via Political Wire:

“Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation,” Heyburn wrote in a 19-page opinion, its lawyers never explained how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has “any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses.”

Heyburn stayed his ruling, putting it on hold pending the outcome of gay marriage cases from four states that are to be argued Aug. 6 at the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Those include Heyburn’s ruling in February that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

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Here’s another gem from Heyburn’s ruling: “In America, even sincere and long-held religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been outvoted.”

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer