NE Gay Marriage Ban Reinstatement?

LINCOLN, NE -- Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning filed a 110-page brief with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, arguing that Nebraska’s ban on gay marriage should be restored.

In the brief Bruning states that Judge Joseph Bataillon was wrong to strike down Nebraska’s 5-year-old ban on gay marriage. The ban was approved by 70 percent of Nebraska's voters when it was introduced in 2000.

According to Bruning the ban does not violate any person’s freedom of expression or association since opponents of the ban "are free to gather, express themselves, lobby, and generally participate in the political process however they see fit."

Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit challenging the ban, stating that the ban is “the most extreme anti-gay family laws in the nation.”

The Nebraska ban on gay marriage went further than many other state's ban on gay marriage as it also banned government agencies and government sponsored institutions from offering benefits to gay couples.