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DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a dozen state lawmakers against a gay couple who have talked of challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
The couple's request for a marriage license and press statements about a possible legal challenge do not represent the "imminent harm" needed to give the lawmakers standing to sue, Bucks County Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg said.
Robert Seneca, 49, and Stephen Stahl, 55, of New Hope, tried to apply for a marriage license in March at the Bucks County Courthouse, but the register of wills said she could not legally accept an application for a same-sex union.
Seneca and Stahl later said they would consider a lawsuit.
The 11 Republicans and one Democrat who sponsored the state's 1996 Defense of Marriage Act said they filed their suit in an attempt to have the law affirmed before Seneca and Stahl sought to have it declared unconstitutional.
Glen Lavy, a lawyer who argued the lawmakers' case, said the state's marriage laws were threatened because the pair sought a marriage license application and talked publicly of challenging the law. | 
