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New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment

By Kathleen Gilbert

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, July 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two New Orleans men are suing Louisiana state officials in a federal court for denying them a marriage certificate, claiming that the U.S. Constitution and international law give them a "right" to marry - despite Louisiana's constitutional ban on same-sex "marriage."

In the text of the complaint, the two men said they are "physically, mentally and emotionally fit" for marriage, and "are in all respects capable of entering a committed, married relationship were they not prohibited from doing so under the Louisiana Constitution and Louisiana Civil Code."

The complaint claims the constitutional marriage definition violates articles 8, 9, 10, and 14 of the United States Constitution, as well as several articles in international rights documents mostly addressing equal protection, discrimination based on sex, and the right of men and women to marry.

The document names as defendants Brenda Hurst, director of the Orleans Parish marriage license office; Darlene Smith, state registrar of vital records and statistics; Alan Levine, secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.

According to the Times-Picayune, one of the partners, Kristoffer Bonilla, said he prepared the lawsuit before he and partner John Thomas Wray applied for the marriage license. 

"The arguments against gay marriage are pretty silly," Bonilla said. "As history progresses, you can't make silly arguments anymore."

State Senator A.G. Crowe, said the suit was "a slap in the face to the 10th amendment protecting the states from the federal government."  "It's trying to use the court system to create conflict between state and federal government," said Crowe. 

78% of Louisiana voters supported enshrining the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman in the state constitution in 2004.  A district judge threw out the amendment weeks later as "unconstitutional," only to have it reinstated by the state Supreme Court.

Louisiana is one of thirty states that have adopted a constitutional marriage amendment. 

Two homosexual couples in May filed a federal lawsuit in California, after that state's Supreme Court ruled to uphold the constitutional marriage amendment voters passed last November.

Six states now allow same-sex "marriage," with New Hampshire recently joining Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. 

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Unhappy with Democracy, Bush v. Gore Rivals Join to Ask Fed Court to Overturn Proposition 8  http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052813.html

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