Merritt, et al., v. Gardner

News update - July 14, 2004

More Florida same-sex couples sue for marriage rights 

http://www.advocate.com/

Three gay couples in Tampa and Orlando, Fla., sued to overturn Florida's

ban on same-sex marriages on Monday. Sue Clayton and Sheila Serrao of

Sarasota sued Hillsborough County clerk of court Richard Ake for

enforcing the state law after they were denied a marriage license. Their

attorney, Ellis Rubin, has represented other gay and lesbian couples in

similar lawsuits in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Later

in the day, two gay couples in Orlando, James Merritt and Albert Leach

Jr., and Alvie Beckham and Mack Wright, filed a similar lawsuit against

Orange County clerk of courts Lydia Gardner.



Merritt and Leach, who have been together for nine years, tried to get a

marriage license the day before Valentine's Day but were turned away by

clerks at the Orange County Courthouse. Beckham and Wright weren't

present Monday at the filing of the lawsuit. "We don't think there is

anything that our marriage can do to harm marriage as it currently

exists today," Merritt, a minister at the Joy Metropolitan Community

Church in Orlando, said before filing the lawsuit. "It is not OK for the

Florida legislature or the governor or the president of the United

States to legislate how we can love each other."



The suits come as the U.S. Senate is debating an amendment that defines

marriage as a union between one man and one woman. President Bush used

his radio address on Saturday to seek support for the amendment; he

contended that legalizing marriage for same-sex couples would cut the

institution off from its moral and religious meanings and weaken it for

all.



Flanked by both local and national gay rights activists at a news

conference, Rubin said the lawsuit asks a judge to declare Florida's ban

on same-sex marriages unconstitutional. "Let the word go out from Tampa

to the rest of the nation that an idea whose time has come cannot be

stopped," he said. Florida law defines marriage as a union between one

man and one woman. Ake said clerks have no choice but to deny same-sex

couples a marriage license. "The statute is very clear," he said. "It's

not a judgment issue, and it's not a moral issue."



Matt Staver, an attorney with the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel and one

of the authors of Florida's Defense of Marriage Act, said he does not

think the lawsuits will succeed. Florida's law, passed in 1997, wasn't

challenged until this year, and Staver said the state constitution's

guarantee of the right to privacy doesn't cover marriage, which is a

public act with public consequences. Staver said that's why there are

limits placed on marriage, such as barring people from having more than

one spouse or marrying a close family relative. Rubin "is actually

hurting the same-sex movement by filing these lawsuits," Staver said.

"He creates more impetus to support the national amendment."



Clayton and Serrao have been a couple for nine years, having met at

church. They had a commitment ceremony in a church six years ago, during

which Serrao said she wore a white gown and her father walked her down

the aisle in what she calls her "dream wedding." The women said they do

not believe their marriage would lessen the value of heterosexual unions

nor that it should play a role in what they see as their right to marry.

The couple, who were also denied a license in Sarasota County, said they

are seeking the same legal benefits of marriage, including Social

Security, tax deductions, and rights of survivorship, that are

automatically afforded to men and women who marry. "The fact that we are

two women does not diminish our love, nor does it diminish God's love

for us," said Clayton, a librarian.



The lawsuit also took on political overtones as both Rubin and gay

rights activists pledged that such cases would help mobilize votes

against Bush in his reelection campaign. California gay rights activist

Robin Tyler, executive director of the gay marriage campaign

DontAmend.com, said Bush is pushing the constitutional amendment only to

score political points with religious conservatives. "We are not a

movement fighting for our lifestyles, we are fighting for our lives,"

she said. "We will not stop suing; we will sue all over the country.

This administration does not scare us."