The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin asserting Wisconsin’s marriage ban and refusal to acknowledge legal out-of-state marriages violates “equal protection” under the 14th amendment.
ACLU Wisconsin’s Communications Director Sarah Karon said not only is the state violating couples’ 14th amendment rights, but the refusal to give same-sex couples the right to marriage is “essentially making them second-class citizens.”
Wisconsin has a constitutional ban on gay marriage, and is also the only state with a marriage evasion statute that allows same sex couples married legally in other states to be prosecuted.
Married couples that return to their homes in Wisconsin can be prosecuted and sentenced to nine months in prison or fined up to $10,000.
The Domestic Partnership Act was passed in 2009 in an attempt to give same-sex couples the same protections opposite-sex married couples maintain. But according to Karon, the act does not afford the more than 1,000 benefits and protections that opposite-sex marriage provides.
Major legal marriage benefits include filing joint tax returns, applying for health care, combined social security and medical decisions made on behalf of a spouse who is incapacitated.
Karon said the country's attitude toward same-sex marriage is changing and that there is momentum toward legalizing same-sex marriage.
“We really felt that the time was now to do this in Wisconsin,” Karon said.
