Reprint From The Associated Press

ACLU Sues City of Baltimore

July 7, 2004

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the city of Baltimore and four Maryland counties for the right of same-sex couples to marry.

The suit was filed in Baltimore Circuit Court on behalf of nine couples and a man whose partner recently died. The couples had sought marriage licenses and were denied, said Ken Choe, staff attorney for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, based in New York.

Maryland's statutory law specifically defines marriage as between a man and woman. In February, Attorney General Joseph Curran sent a memo to state legislators and the 24 clerks of the court reminding them that clerks are not authorized to issue licenses to gay couples.

Curran's memo also said the law prohibits recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.

Curran issued a statement Wednesday saying the law "unambiguously defines marriage in a way that excludes same-sex couples." But, he said, "it seems appropriate that the issue, which has been framed as a matter of civil rights, be decided by the courts."

The attorney general's statement seemed weak, said Sen. Alex X. Mooney, a Republican representing Frederick and Washington counties, who is an opponent of same-sex marriage. Mooney said the attorney general's comment that the issue should be decided in court raised doubts that he would fully defend the law.

The ACLU's suit asks the court to declare that the state's ban on same-sex marriages unjustifiably discriminates against couples based on gender and sexual orientation. The suit asks the court to prohibit the 24 circuit court clerks from refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

"Maryland law excludes hundreds of gay couples the legal protection intended to help families at the time of their greatest need, such as in sickness and death," Choe said.

Similar lawsuits in California, New York, Oregon and Washington are in various stages of litigation, Choe said. The ACLU is also challenging a constitutional amendment in Nebraska that prohibits gay marriage and civil unions.

Some of the plaintiffs attended a press conference in Baltimore Wednesday.

Gitanjali Deane, 42, and Lisa Polyak, 43, applied for a marriage license July 1 in Baltimore City after living together for 23 years. The women have two daughters, ages 5 and 8, through artificial insemination. They said their children were the reason they decided to sue for full marriage rights.

"When you have kids, you have this very primal instinct to protect them," Deane said. She said her children are stigmatized because their parents can't get married. "They're going to pay either way," Polyak said, but she said staying silent "has a huge price."

Deane, who is from India originally, said she also had difficulty securing U.S. citizenship because her relationship with Polyak was not considered a legal marriage.

Steven Palmer, 32, applied for a license in Dorchester County last week with his partner of six years, Ryan Killough, 30.

Killough said the couple considered filing their own lawsuit after the Massachusetts courts ruled same-sex marriage legal. They never applied for a license in Maryland before last week because they knew they'd be rejected, he said.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Clerk Frank Conaway said he took issue with the suit naming him as a defendant rather than the attorney general directly.

"Personally, I have no problem at all issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples if I could," Conaway said. "I think it is a violation of their civil rights. If people want to get married, they ought to be able to get married."

The only plaintiff in the ACLU case from Washington County is John Lestitian, whose partner, James Bradley, died last year. Lestitian did not apply for a license, but he said 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 clerk from Dorchester County, who was also named as a defendant in the case, did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Gay marriage opponents said the lawsuit was not unexpected.

"This is going to be every state," said Doug Stiegler, director of the Maryland Family Protection Lobby, a group that has lobbied against same-sex marriage for 11 years. "There will be lawsuits wherever they see a vulnerability."

Stiegler said he has no confidence that the courts will uphold Maryland law after seeing similar laws thrown out by courts in other states.

Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich said Wednesday that he would sign a defense of marriage act but that he would rather focus on issues he considers more important. He said marriage is an institution that should be between a man and a woman. He discounted the lawsuit as an extreme tactic.

"The ACLU simply lost their way," Ehrlich said. "It's simply the ACLU and their far left agenda." Mooney said same-sex marriage would lead to a breakdown of the family.

"The bottom line is every kid deserves a mother and a father," he said. "If you throw that away, society's got big problems."

Montgomery County Democratic Delegate Richard S. Madaleno, an openly gay legislator, said the arguments in the ACLU case were compelling.

The House of Delegates passed a bill last spring that would grant medical decision-making rights to same-sex partners, but the bill didn't make it out of the Senate.

"You can see why people would turn to the courts when the legislature wasn't even willing to pass a bill to provide very basic medical decision-making rights," Madaleno said, adding that he expects similar legislation next year.