No foolin’

From the Los Angeles Times:

Denying gay couples civil marriage violates their constitutional rights, a Washington state judge ruled today, a day after voters in Missouri approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.

“The court concludes that the exclusion of same-sex partners from civil marriage and the privileges attendant thereto is not rationally related to any legitimate or compelling state interest and is certainly not narrowly tailored toward such an interest,” Judge William L. Downing of King County Superior Court wrote.

He stayed his ruling pending review by the state Supreme Court.