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Lawmakers, Clergy & Civil Rights Groups Urge Court to Rule in Favor of Marriage for Gay Couples; Case Will Be Heard in Seattle July 16
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(Seattle, Thursday, June 24, 2004) - Six state legislators and a wide variety of religious organizations, civil rights groups and bar associations filed friend-of-the-court briefs today in support of marriage for same-sex couples in Washington State.
Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women’s Law Center filed a lawsuit in state court in March seeking the right to marry for same-sex couples. The briefs filed today urge the court to rule in favor of treating all couples equally.
“Today’s filings show that we are not alone. Legislators, communities of faith and so many others see that as long as gay couples cannot marry, they are not being treated equally. It’s powerful for the court to hear from such a diverse array of supporters,” said Jennifer C. Pizer, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Western Regional Office.
Arguing that the state law excluding same-sex couples from marriage should be struck down, six state legislators -- including one Republican -- filed a brief saying that the “heterosexuals only” rule violates the protections guaranteed by the Washington State Constitution. State Representatives Fred Jarrett (R), Jim Moeller (D), Ed Murray (D) and Sandra Romero (D), as well as State Senators Debbie Regala (D) and Pat Thibaudeau (D) all signed onto the friend-of-the-court brief.
“Building families, expanding civil rights, and limiting the government’s reach into our private affairs are among my core beliefs as a Republican. All families should be encouraged and supported, and I cannot think of a better way to support all families than to allow loving, committed couples the right to marry, and that includes same-sex couples,” Representative Jarrett said.
Multifaith Works, with numerous other religious organizations, argued in its brief that the state should not adopt one definition of marriage and that religious freedom is not affected by recognizing the importance of civil marriage for same-sex couples. The brief says, “promoting ‘moral and religious’ grounds as the basis for the legislature’s adoption of [the state’s Defense of Marriage Act] is not a legitimate government purpose - let alone a compelling state interest.”
Another brief filed today was signed by a coalition of civil rights groups and bar associations, including Loren Miller Bar Association, a largely African-American legal group. The brief argues that preventing same-sex couples from marrying is fundamentally wrong and violates the Washington State Constitution. The brief says, “Our nation has a troubled history of imposing restrictions on the most private and most important choice of who one will marry. Ultimately, the judiciary has righted such wrongs…”
Other than Massachusetts, no state allows same-sex couples to marry, although three Canadian providences now fully sanction marriage for same-sex couples. For a period of time this year, San Francisco, Portland, New Paltz and (briefly) Sandoval County, New Mexico, also married same-sex couples. Thirty-eight states explicitly ban same-sex couples from marrying or have laws refusing to respect marriages from other states. An amendment to the federal Constitution that has been proposed and introduced in Congress would ban marriage between same-sex couples and could also block other protections for couples. That amendment has ignited controversy even among some conservatives because of its breadth and the extreme nature of amending the nation’s founding document.
In addition to the case seeking marriage in Washington, Lambda Legal is also currently litigating marriage cases in New Jersey, California (with the ACLU, National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California), and New York.
Pizer and Jamie Pedersen, Co-Chair of Lambda Legal’s Board of Directors and an attorney at the Seattle law firm Preston Gates & Ellis, are Lambda Legal’s lead attorneys on the case, Andersen, et. al. v. Sims, et. al. Co-counsel include Nancy Sapiro of the Northwest Women’s Law Center, Bradley Bagshaw and Jennifer Divine, of the Seattle law firm Helsell Fetterman LLP, and Patricia Novotny.
### Contacts: For Lambda Legal: Fred Shank, 212-809-8585 ext. 267 For Northwest Women’s Law Center: Romi Neustadt, (206) 326-5115 Representative Fred Jarrett: (206) 940-5958 For Loren Miller: James Andrus, (206) 370-8329 For Multifaith Works: Rabbi Anson Laytner, (206) 324-1520