by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

A Kentucky state judge has granted a divorce to a Lesbian couple, in spite of a state law prohibiting recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages.

Alysha Romero and Rebecca Sue Romero were married in Boston in 2009, but now live in Louisville. They filed for divorce in 2013 and entered a property settlement last spring.

Judge Joseph O'Reilly ruled in their case on December 29, but lawyers for the couple agreed to keep the ruling secret until it became final, to prevent outside parties from challenging it.

In an eight-page opinion, O'Reilly ruled that barring a same-sex couple from divorcing in Kentucky violates the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law and the right of citizens to 'enjoy and defend their lives and liberties.'

'The Constitution of Kentucky prohibits the exercise of absolute and arbitrary power over lives' of its residents, O'Reilly wrote, 'even if that exercise is approved of by the largest majority.'

In any case, O'Reilly added, Kentucky divorce law requires that it be 'liberally construed' to promote 'amicable settlements' of disputes between ex-spouses.

Kentucky law says that same-sex marriages performed in another jurisdiction 'shall be void' in Kentucky, even when they are legal where they are performed, and that any rights granted 'by virtue of the marriage, or its termination, shall be unenforceable in Kentucky courts.'

Lawyers for the women argued that denying a divorce to a same-sex couple would illogically thwart the state's ban on same-sex marriage by actually requiring one to continue.

They also argued that Kentucky courts have held that marriages performed in other countries and states must be recognized for purposes of granting a divorce, even if marriage laws are different there than in Kentucky. For example, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that common law spouses from other states must be allowed to divorce in Kentucky, even though Kentucky law does not recognize common-law marriages.

'I am just thrilled with Judge O'Reilly's courage. I think he had a lot of chutzpah to do what he did,' attorney Louis Waterman told reporters.

Both women said they were grateful they did not have to travel back to Massachusetts to divorce.

No one intervened in the case to try to prevent the divorce - and therefore the implicit recognition of same-sex marriage. The office of Governor Steve Beshear, who is defending the state's ban on same-sex marriage, had no comment on the case.

In its January 16 conference, the U.S. Supreme Court will discuss whether to hear cases from Kentucky and three other states in which a panel of the Sixth Circuit Court bucked the national trend by ruling that same-sex couples have no constitutional right to marriage.

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