The state of Pennsylvania will soon be asking couples to wait at least 15 days between the time they have sex before or after marriage.
The law, which took effect Monday, was drafted by a group of attorneys from the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
They are asking the state’s judges to rule that the law, enacted in 2014, does not violate anyone’s constitutional right to privacy, freedom of religion, or conscience.
The group, which has been calling for a law on marriage equality, says the law does not create an undue burden on couples who choose to marry in the future.
The attorneys want the state to consider whether any exemptions to the 15-day waiting period apply.
The state has been trying to craft the law for at least three years.
Since 2012, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, Pennsylvania has been a leader in the fight for marriage equality.
Last year, the state passed the nation’s first legal protections for gay and lesbian couples in the form of the Marriage Protection Act.
Pennsylvania is also home to the nation ‘s first statewide gay pride parade, and it has become the first state to require same-gender couples to register with the state in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
“This is not a law that we’ve seen before,” said attorney Jason Bockenberger.
“We’re trying to be cautious.”
In 2014, Pennsylvania became the first U.S. state to recognize same-day marriage.
In a landmark ruling in June, the U.K. court of appeal in London overturned a British ban on same-year marriages.
That decision, and a similar one in Washington state, have made same-date marriage legal in the U-K.
and in more than 30 other European countries.
The U.KS. and other European nations that have same-marriage laws have been slow to adopt the idea.
In the U, the number of same day marriages has more than doubled in recent years, and there have been more than a dozen cases where same-month marriages have been struck down by British courts.
The American Civil Liberties Union has urged states to follow the lead of Britain.
It filed suit last year in federal court in Philadelphia, asking the court to overturn a Maryland ban on gay marriage that was signed by Gov.
Larry Hogan.
Hogan is a Republican who supports gay marriage.
Pennsylvania, which is home to one of the country ‘s largest populations of gay and bisexual men, is one of a handful of states that allow same-week marriages.
However, the attorneys for the Pennsylvania bar say the state should be cautious because of the potential for lawsuits.
“Pennsylvania is one state where marriage is still a very divisive issue, and that will not change,” said lawyer Matthew O’Brien.
“It’s going to be challenging to convince judges to uphold this.”
