COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Supreme Court ruling meant to give unmarried same-sex partners the same domestic violence protections as heterosexuals appears to have an unintended consequence: Now authorities might not be able to charge any unmarried person with beating their partner.
Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined with a gay woman who successfully sued the state to ask the justices to re-write their Wednesday ruling. Otherwise, they'll have to rely on the conservative Legislature to change the code, a solution the woman's lawyer, Bakari Sellers, said might get stuck in partisan bickering over the morality of same-sex relationships.