section below

Citation: section below
Parent Document: Donaldson v. State of Montana, 2012 MT 288 (2012)
Jurisdiction: Montana (state)
Effective Date: 2012-12-17
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/889962/donaldson-v-state-of-montana/ ↗

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       of the same sex and thus, if inclined to enter into a marriage relationship,
       would choose to marry a person of their own sex or gender. A statute that
       limits marriage to a union of persons of opposite sexes, thereby placing
       marriage outside the reach of couples of the same sex, unquestionably
       imposes different treatment on the basis of sexual orientation. In our view,
       it is sophistic to suggest that this conclusion is avoidable by reason of the
       circumstance that the marriage statutes permit a gay man or a lesbian to
       marry someone of the opposite sex, because making such a choice would
       require the negation of the person’s sexual orientation. Just as a statute
       that restricted marriage only to couples of the same sex would discriminate
       against heterosexual persons on the basis of their heterosexual orientation,
       the current California statutes realistically must be viewed as discriminating
       against gay persons on the basis of their homosexual orientation.

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