Miami On Jan. 17, six same-sex South Florida couples entered the Miami Beach Clerk’s office and applied for a marriage license. Because marriage equality is illegal in the Sunshine State, all six couples were turned down.
On Jan. 21, those same couples filed an historic lawsuit in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, challenging that Amendment 2, the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, and other Florida laws banning marriage equality, are unconstitutional.
The legal team representing the plaintiffs is made up of law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz, Orlando attorney and LGBT activist Mary B. Meeks and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
The Miami-Dade County-based couples are: Catherina Pareto and Karla Arguello; Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price; Vanessa and Melanie Alenier; Todd and Jeff Delmay; Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber; and Don Price Johnston and Jorge Isaias Diaz. Four of the couples are raising children, and one of the couples are grandparents. Their professions range from doctor to entrepreneur to artist to homemaker, and they’ve been in committed relationships from one to eighteen years.
According to the complaint filed in court, Each [plaintiff] has made a life-long commitment to one another and are spouses in every sense, except that Florida law will not allow them to marry. Shannon Minter, the legal director for NCLR, said the twelve plaintiffs represent the diversity of the community in this state.
The Equality Florida Institute is also listed on the lawsuit as a plaintiff. Equality Florida (EQFL) is the state’s largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s LGBT community through lobbying, grassroots organization and education. Equality Florida Institute is EQF’s sister organization, a non-for-profit that educates the public, elected officials, and businesses about issues of importance to the LGBT community.
These couples have been embraced by their families and communities, but every day, Florida laws are denying them the protections and dignity that every family deserves, said Equality Florida Institute CEO Nadine Smith. These harmful laws are outdated and out of step. It is time for all families in our state to have full equality under the law.
Plaintiff Jorge Isaias Diaz said it’s important that this battle is being fought in his home state.
Both Don and I have very strong ties to Florida and cannot imagine getting married anywhere else, Diaz said. If we could marry, we would be legally recognized as a family and have all the same legal protections as others.
On Jan. 23, the case was assigned to Miami-Dade circuit judge Sarah Zabel, a litigator who specialized in family law. Zabel has been a circuit judge since 2003.
When asked to comment on the choice of judge, attorney Mary Meeks noted that judges are not appointed to cases, but rather âselected blindly and randomly once the lawsuit has been filed with the clerk of courts.
We have faith in the legal system and are confident that this or any other judge will provide a fair hearing and ruling on the merits, she said.
The road to the courtroom
Florida’s battle for marriage equality has been fought on a number of fronts. Florida has not one, not two, but three bans on marriage equality legislation enacted at the state level in 1977 and 1997, plus Amendment 2, approved by 62% of voters in 2008 despite efforts by Florida Red and Blue, the NAACP, the ACLU and other groups to defeat the proposal. Although it was not the first municipality in Florida to adopt a domestic partner registry, the city of Orlando’s unanimous approval of the registry in December of 2011 sparked a trend, and now more than two dozen cities and counties offer a registry, many modeled after Orlando’s.
A statewide domestic partner registry bill died in committee last legislative session, and a new bill, brought forward by state representative Linda Stewart (D-Orlando), is currently awaiting committee hearings in the state legislature.
As those activists chip away at equality, many in the community wondered when will Florida’s LGBTs finally sue for their right to marry?
Meeks said the process toward a lawsuit began shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal ban on recognizing same-sex marriages, in June of 2013. At that time, national and state LGBT leaders started to strategize.
We determined the judicial process was the best course,Meeks said. We began searching for appropriate plaintiffs and putting together the legal team, and waiting for courts in other jurisdictions to issue favorable rulings that could be used as precedent in Florida. Utah and Oklahoma courts very recently issued such rulings, which triggered this lawsuit. We believe now is the right time to challenge Florida’s discriminatory laws.
Equality Florida launched a search for those plaintiffs.
This tipping point that has led us to this moment has been building for many, many years, but we put the call out after the DOMA decision in June for folks to sign up to be plaintiffs in a potential lawsuit, said Michael Farmer, EQFLs statewide field director. Over 500 couples applied to be plaintiffs and since then we’ve been hosting plaintiff gatherings and building case files to have at the ready when the moment came to go to court.
Vanessa Alenier, one of the plaintiffs, said she’s motivated to fight for marriage equality because nothing else comes close to matching the protections automatically provided when a couple gets married.
Our family is in need of those protections just like other families, Alenier said. We want our son to understand that his family is secure and just as respected as any other family part of our community here in Florida.
According to a 2004 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, there are at least 1,138 tangible benefits, protections, rights, and responsibilities granted when a couple gets married. That’s just at the federal level many state and local laws benefit married couples, as well.
The lawsuit states that the plaintiffs and their children are stigmatized and relegated to a second-class status by being barred from marriage.
What does the other side say? Watermark breaks down John Stemberger’s response to the lawsuit.
Why a lawsuit now?
Minter said the NCLR’s partnership with EQFL was key in determining the timing, calling Equality Florida one of the most strategic and successful state equality groups in the country.”
“Every state is unique, and we believe strongly that state leaders are in the best position to determine which strategy is best for their state,” he said.
Minter added that since DOMA was struck down, more than 40 cases challenging state marriage bans have been filed in federal and state courts across the United States.
Equality Florida and other Florida leaders believe and we strongly agree that now is the time to file a case challenging Florida’s marriage ban as well, Minter said. The timing is based on a number of encouraging factors including recent positive decisions striking down state marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma, growing public support for marriage equality across the country, and strong precedents from the Florida courts.
Meeks concurred that the rulings in Utah and Oklahoma triggered this lawsuit, and said it feels great, both personally and professionally, to finally take the step of filing the complaint.
I have worked hard for years to help advance LGBT rights here in Florida, and I have one of those unrecognized marriages from another state, Meeks said. So, this is very important to me in all those ways. It feels good to be in the game!
She added that they chose to file the lawsuit in state court because it challenges state laws.
The plaintiffs that were selected all live in and near Miami, and all applied for their marriage licenses there, so the Miami court had jurisdiction, Meeks said. Otherwise, we would have had to file multiple suits in multiple jurisdictions.
Marriage equality a day in court
Now that the 21-page complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief has been filed with Harvey Ruvin, Clerk of Courts of Miami-Dade County, the legal team and plaintiffs play the waiting game. Injunctive relief refers to a request outlined in the lawsuit that the court should so declare and issue a mandatory injunction requiring Defendant to issue marriage licenses to each of the plaintiff couples.
Ruvin is the defendant in the case because he is “responsible for issuing and recording marriage licenses within Miami-Dade County, according to the lawsuit. Defendant is responsible for enforcing Florida’s laws barring same-sex couples from marriage. Defendant, and those subject to his supervision and control, have caused the harms alleged and will continue to injure Plaintiffs if not enjoined.
As of press time, no court date has been set.
In this case, the Miami-Dade Clerk of the court is the defendant and he has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit, Farmer said. After that we’ll have a better idea where we are in terms of the dates.
In its argument for marriage equality, the lawsuit claims that bans on same-sex marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States, which provides that No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The complaint also argues discrimination based on sexual orientation, sex and the Due Process Clause, which asserts that the marriage equality ban is not rationally related to any legitimate government interest.
Minter, who was described by Meeks as the mastermind leading Florida’s team fighting for marriage equality, said Barring same-sex couples from marriage causes great harms to their families and children while helping no one.
He said their courtroom strategy is to focus on the families damaged by the gross inequalities created by Florida’s laws against same-sex marriage.
Florida’s courts are fair and open-minded, our legal arguments are compelling, and the harm that is caused to same-sex couples and their children is increasingly apparent to both courts and the public, Minter said. Our strategy is to make our legal case as powerfully as possible and to make sure the courts understand the real harm that is caused to real families by these discriminatory laws.
When asked to speak about that harm, Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a plaintiff in the case, told Equality Florida that it really hits home when he and his partner consider their two children.
We are a family in every way, except that Florida will not allow us to marry, Rodriguez said. Being a doctor, I see people and families in crisis all the time. In those situations, family and the legal protections that come with it are critical. It pains David and me to be denied a basic safety net of legal protections.
In the meantime, all parties involved agree that community support is key.
In the months ahead, we will need the entire community, in every part of the state, to help support our litigation by talking about their families and their lives with their family, friends, and neighbors, Minter said. We encourage anyone who would like to help with the public education effort to contact Equality Florida and sign up for Get Engaged, which is one powerful way to share your personal story.
Farmer said EQFL will create a significant public education campaign to push for the lawsuite’s success.
Across the state, pro-equality Floridians are really stepping up at this pivotal moment to support the work as volunteers and donors, he said.
The legal team is representing the plaintiffs pro bono, according to Farmer, and at this time, it appears any remaining costs will be covered by EQFL donors.
Meeks said that while the lawsuit follows the legal process, it’s important not to abandon other efforts toward equality. She said appeals are likely, and the court battle will take some time.
So we need to keep fighting on all fronts, including continuing our effort for passage of a statewide Domestic Partner Registry, Meeks said. Hopefully marriage equality will come in the not too distant future, but in the meantime, gay Floridians and their families have no rights, and a domestic partner registry would at least give people a handful of important legal protections while we are pursuing full marriage equality.
What if we win? What if we lose?
According to Meeks, it almost doesn’t matter whether the plaintiffs win or lose this lawsuite regardless of the outcome at this junction, there will be appeals.
Probably either way, there will be an appeal that ends up with resolution by the Florida Supreme Court, Meeks said.
Minter agrees with Meeks’ prediction.
Whichever side wins in the trial court, that ruling will likely be appealed to the Florida Court of Appeals and ultimately to the Florida Supreme Court, Minter said.
In the long term, Meeks is confident that the case will lead to marriage equality in the State of Florida.
I think that the law, as well as public opinion, is now firmly on our side. Courts in several states traditionally conservative states have ruled that marriage bans like Florida’s violate the federal constitution, and this is supported by very persuasive language in the US Supreme Court’s decision in the DOMA case, she said. I think the Florida courts that address this issue will pay very close attention to those rulings and hopefully come to the same conclusion there is no rational basis to treat gay families differently by denying them the fundamental right to marry.
Meeks added that while she believes the lawsuit will make its way to the Florida Supreme Court, she does not think that’s where it will end.
I believe that this suit, or one like it in another state, will eventually make its way to the US Supreme Court and we will get a ruling that will apply nationwide, Meeks said.
As of press time, 17 U.S. states, plus Washington, D.C., have legalized same-sex marriage. That success has come via three paths: popular vote, state legislation and court decision. Of those 17 states, six states have marriage equality as the result of a court decision: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, California, New Jersey and New Mexico.
California’s battle for marriage equality did make its way to the Supreme Court. In June 2013, in a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that the defenders of Proposition 8, California’s ban on marriage equality, lacked the standing to represent their side of the case.
