Judge strikes down South Carolina marriage ban

A federal judge ruled today against South Carolina’s constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.  The civil rights organization the Human Rights Campaign says Judge Richard Mark Gergel’s ruling makes the PalmettoState the latest to see such a ban struck down in court since last June’s U-S Surpeme Court ruling.  According to the Williams Institute, Los Angeles-based think tank, in South Carolina there are more than 7,200 co-habitating same-sex couples, of whom an estimated 19% are raising more than 2,700 children in their homes.  In Oconee, county Probate Judge Kenny Johns said recently his office had not received any marriage requests from same-sex couples—although he did receive one telephone inquiry.