ATLANTA -- A judge on Tuesday struck down Georgia's ban on same-sex marriage, saying a measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004 violated a rule that limits ballot questions to a single subject.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell said the state's voters must first decide whether same-sex relationships should have any legal status before they can be asked whether to ban same-sex marriages.

"People who believe marriages between men and women should have a unique and privileged place in our society may also believe that same-sex relationships should have some place -- although not marriage," she wrote.

The single-subject rule in the state constitution "protects the right of those people to hold both views and reflect both judgments by their vote," the judge said.

What??????? Sounds more like the "Judge Constance C. Russell personal preference rule" to me. The voters weren't asked to decide whether same-sex relationships should have legal status, they were asked a question on a single subject: Should marriage be defined as between a man and a woman? Just because the judge doesn't like the fact that they weren't asked the "should gay couples have legal status" question first should be totally irrelevant.