West Virginia Attorney General has motioned for a judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on gay marriage, the WV Gazette reports:
In its motion, the state claims two reasons why the lawsuit filed by three same-sex couples should be dismissed: state law doesn't cause them any immediate harm and the couples aren't married, so the fact West Virginia doesn't recognize same-sex marriages from other states doesn't affect them, according to state attorneys.
"The statute causes no concrete and immediate injury to Plaintiffs, who allege only the desire to marry each other in West Virginia and have not alleged that they are or intend to be married in another State," the motion filed in U.S. District Court on Monday by Assistant Attorney General Julie Ann Warren says.
"Plaintiffs do not allege that they have valid marriages from other jurisdictions, that they have taken any steps to obtain valid marriages from other jurisdictions, that they intend to be married in other jurisdictions, or that they would have obtained a valid marriage from another jurisdiction if West Virginia recognized out-of-state same-sex marriage."
Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of three couples. Last month Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a motion to intervene and defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
