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Ruling on same-sex marriages could bring changes in other laws

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Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014

By Megan Thompson

PHOENIX – A federal appeals court decision that overturned Arizona’s bans on same-sex marriage could soon be applied to other state laws that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, one legal expert says. Daniel Barr, one of the attorneys involved in the legal challenge to the state’s same-sex marriage ban, said those other laws can now be challenged under the higher scrutiny standard the court applied to the marriage laws. Defenders of traditional marriage said they have no intention of giving up the fight on marriage. But Barr said the marriage fight is over, and that legal challenges to other laws perceived as discriminatory will lead to them being “struck down in pretty quick order.”