Mass Murderer Charles Manson Can Get Legally Married, But A Lot Of Gay Couples Still Can't

Mass Murderer Charles Manson Can Get Legally Married, But A Lot Of Gay Couples Still Can't

Mass murderer Charles Manson was able to obtain a marriage license, but many gay couples in the United States still can't.

The Associated Press reported Monday that 80-year-old Manson, who is in prison for life, will wed 26-year-old Afton Elaine Burton, who goes by the name "Star." Rolling Stone published a profile on Manson in November 2013, in which Star talked about marrying the murderer.

"When that will be, we don't know. But I take it very seriously," Star said. "Charlie is my husband. Charlie told me to tell you this. We haven't told anybody about that."

Same-sex couples in 17 states, who also may take the thought of marriage "very seriously," are banned from obtaining a marriage license.

In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled a federal same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, striking down the Defense of Marriage Act by a 5-4 vote. While 17 states currently have laws that ban same-sex marriage, many of those laws are in the process of being challenged in court.

On Monday, a same-sex couple who challenged Michigan's ban on gay marriages announced they were taking their case to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to determine "whether a state violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by denying same-sex couples the right to marry."

HuffPost's Kate Abbey-Lambertz reports:

Petitions have additionally been filed in the cases from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. As SCOTUSblog reports, the cases are ready to be submitted to justices as soon as state replies are filed. They appear to have arrived in court in time to be heard and decided in the current term, which ends mid-2015. However, the Supreme Court must first decide to review any of the cases.

In October, the Supreme Court declined petitions seeking the appeal of rulings that struck down gay marriage bans in five states. However, at the time, appeals courts had not disagreed on the issue.

Jan Diehm contributed to this report.

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