The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the state of Montana today on behalf of seven same-sex couples, who want their relationships to be legally recognized as domestic partnerships.
Montana passed a marriage amendment in 2004 with the approval of 67 percent of the voters.
Experts indicate that Montana was selected because the amendment did not exclude benefits; thus, giving the ACLU an opportunity to work toward marriage redefinition.
Jeff Laszloffy, executive director of the Montana Family Foundation said it’s no accident they chose Montana and its activist court system.
“What the plaintiffs in the suit are asking is for the court to engage in a semantic game, ” said Laszloffy. “They want the courts to grant them all the benefits of marriage and withhold simply the title of marriage.”
Bill Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation says the same ploy was successful in Alaska and California.
“It’s clearly an end-run around what the people of the state intended,” he said. “If the people of the state want to give marriage benefits to unmarried couples, they could have chosen to do that.
“They’re trying to establish – for state constitutional purposes – that the state supreme court, rather than the people, will get to decide.”
He says the goal is for the courts to set up a “separate but equal” status for gay-identified people.
Thirty states have constitutional amendments protecting marriage.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the ACLU suit, Donaldson and Guggenheim v. Montana.
Learn more about the Defense of Marriage Act.
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