MISSISSIPPI: Gov Uses Hate Group To Intervene In Gay Divorce Case

Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has filed to intervene in a same-sex divorce case before the state Supreme Court.

The high court said Monday that it would hear the case instead of assigning it to the Court of Appeals. Tuesday, justices approved Bryant’s motion to intervene. It’s unclear if the court will hear oral arguments or when it might rule. In 2013, DeSoto County Chancery Judge Mitchell Lundy Jr. ruled that the Mississippi Constitution and statutes prevented him from granting a divorce to Lauren Czekala-Chatham and Dana Ann Melancon. The women married in San Francisco in 2008 and bought a house in Mississippi before separating in 2010. They could divorce in California, but Czekala-Chatham says she shouldn’t be treated differently than straight couples. Melancon objected to the divorce but later agreed to a binding settlement splitting the couple’s property even though the divorce was denied. It’s possible the state high court could await guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. Wesley Hisaw, Czekala-Chatham’s lawyer, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the nation’s high court may agree to hear Utah’s appeal of a ruling striking down that state’s ban on gay marriage.