RALEIGH, N.C. — The state's highest court ruled Friday that victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships can obtain emergency restraining orders, nullifying a law that made North Carolina the only state in the nation that lacked such protections.
As written, the state law allows same-sex couples to seek domestic violence protection orders only if they're married or divorced. The N.C. Supreme Court's decision, though, upholds a 2020 appeals court ruling where judges declared that the measure violates the state constitution's guarantee to equal protection under the law.
The court's ruling ends, once and for all, North Carolina's status as the only state in the country that prevented victims of domestic violence in unmarried same-sex relationships from obtaining protective orders.
