The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday sued the city of Baltimore and four Maryland counties to allow homosexual couples the right to marry.
The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, claims that Maryland’s law denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates the state constitution’s guarantees of equality. Like Virginia, Maryland defines marriage as the union of only a man and a woman and does not recognize same-sex “marriages” performed in other states.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of nine Maryland same-sex couples and a Hagerstown man whose male companion recently died. The couples sought marriage licenses and were denied. John Lestitian, whose companion died last year, says he had to fight for the right to plan a funeral and had to pay inheritance taxes on his own savings accounts because he was not legally married.
The four counties named as defendants along with the city of Baltimore are Dorchester, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s and Washington.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the state law discriminates based on gender and sexual orientation. The suit also asks the court to prohibit court clerks from refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples.
“Maryland has said that it will not tolerate discrimination against lesbian and gay people,” said Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland. “It’s time for the state to live up to that promise and stop denying same-sex couples and their children the same protections and safeguards that straight couples and their children receive through marriage.”
Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said yesterday that it’s appropriate the matter be decided by the courts.
“This office has advised repeatedly that [the law] unambiguously defines marriage in a way that excludes same-sex couples,” said Mr. Curran, a Democrat. “Unless the Court of Appeals declares it unconstitutional, or the General Assembly invalidates it, this office will defend Maryland’s law.”
In February, Mr. Curran sent a memo to state lawmakers and the 24 clerks of the court reminding them that clerks are not authorized to issue licenses to homosexual couples.
Ken Choe, a staff lawyer with the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, said the couples’ complaint highlights that “lesbian and gay people in Maryland suffer real harms when their relationships aren’t recognized.”
Mr. Lestitian lost the home he shared with his partner in Washington County because the state’s inheritance laws failed to recognize their relationship, the lawsuit claims. Two other plaintiffs were not allowed to visit each other in the hospital because a nurse did not recognize their relationship, the lawsuit also claims.
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, said yesterday he would sign a defense-of-marriage act, but that he would rather focus on more important issues. He discounted the lawsuit as an extreme tactic.
“The ACLU simply lost their way,” he said. “It’s simply the ACLU and their far-left agenda.”
The suit in Maryland is the latest in a series of challenges to laws that restrict same-sex “marriage.”
The ACLU of Virginia has said it will sue that state for its ban on civil unions.
The state’s Republican-controlled legislature enacted a law that amends the state’s Affirmation of Marriage Act to prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex civil unions performed in other states. It bans civil unions and any “partnership contracts” or other arrangements between homosexuals.
Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, tried to amend the law by deleting the phrase “partnership contracts,” saying the phrase is unconstitutional. The legislature rejected his amendments, and the law was enacted without the governor’s signature. The law went into effect last week.
The ACLU said Virginia’s law is poorly written and could ban contracts between same-sex business partners or family members. Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, a Republican, has said he will defend the law.
The Maryland legislature this year rejected bills that would have banned civil unions.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.