Cases Challenging State Bans           
on Marriage for Same-Sex Couples          

               Legal Director John Lewis

                       (Updated 10 July 2012)

CURRENT CASES:

Nevada – Federal Court

Sevcik v. Sandoval (U.S. District Court, Nevada)

Plaintiffs are eight same-sex Nevada couples. Lead plaintiffs, Beverly Sevcik and Mary Baranovich, have been together for over 40 years, raised three children together, and are now grandmothers of four grandchildren.

Lambda Legal represents plaintiffs, along with pro bono co-counsel from O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Snell & Wilmer LLP.  Click here for more information on this case.

Illinois – State Court

On 30 May 2012, loving committed couples in Illinois filed two consolidated lawsuits in state court seeking the freedom to marry under the Illinois Constitution.  The Illinois Attorney General and the Cook County States Attorney announced that they would not defend the state’s marriage ban because they believed it violated the Illinois Constitution, but the court allowed two other Illinois county clerks to intervene to defend the law.  The two lawsuits (each involving multiple couples) are:

Darby v. Orr (Cook County Circuit Court Illinois)

Plaintiffs are 16 same-sex couples and their children, who seek the freedom to marry in Illinois.  They argue that the state statute prohibiting them from marrying violates the Illinois state constitution’s equal protection and due process guarantees.  They assert that current Illinois law relegating lesbian and gay couples to civil unions marks lesbian and gay couples as different and less worthy than other families in Illinois.  Lead plaintiffs, Jim Darby and Patrick Bova, have been a loving, committed couple for over 48 years.

Lambda Legal represents plaintiffs.  Click here for more information on this case.

Lazaro v. Orr (Cook County Circuit Court Illinois)

Plaintiffs are 9 same-sex couples and their children, who seek the freedom to marry in Illinois.  As with Darby, plaintiffs argue that the state’s excluding lesbian and gay couples from marriage violates the Illinois state constitution.  Plaintiffs cite multiple ways that civil unions do not afford lesbian and gay couples the same respect as marriage and mark their relationships as inferior.  Only full marriage equality will remove this stigma and enable same-sex couples to be treated equally under state law.
Lead plaintiffs Tanya Lazaro, a police detective, and Elizabeth Matos have been together for over 15 years and are raising two children.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois represents plaintiffs.  Click here for more information on this case.

New Jersey – State Court

Garden State Equality v. Dow (New Jersey State Superior Court)

Plaintiffs are seven New Jersey same-sex couples and Garden State Equality, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization.  

In 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court in Lewis v. Harris held unanimously that the state statute denying equal rights to lesbian and gay couples violated the New Jersey Constitution and ordered the New Jersey legislature to remedy the violation.  In response, the legislature established civil unions for lesbian and gay couples in New Jersey.

Based on their own experiences, plaintiffs argue that New Jersey’s civil union law relegates them and other same-sex couples and their children to an inferior status and harms them in tangible ways, including: denying workplace benefits and protections equal to those accorded to married people; blocking access to loved ones during medical emergencies; depriving them of certainty in their legal rights and status; and often increasing financial burdens.

Plaintiffs bring claims under both state and federal law. They argue that the civil union law violates both the New Jersey Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Lambda Legal represents plaintiffs.  Click here for more information on this case.

PRIOR STATE SUPREME COURT CASES, ESTABLISHING MARRIAGE EQUALITY ON A STATEWIDE BASIS:

Four state Supreme Court cases have held that excluding loving, committed same-sex couples from marriage violates their state constitutions.  These cases have enabled thousands of LGBTI couples to marry in those states and have provided critical legal building blocks in the movement for marriage equality nationwide.

Massachusetts

Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003)

California

In Re Marriage Cases (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757
(Same-sex couples are currently unable to marry in California because of Proposition 8.  Approximately 18,000 same-sex couples married in California in 2008 before Proposition 8.)

Connecticut

Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health (2008) 289 Conn. 135

Iowa

Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009)