Fort Lauderdale (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi filed papers opposing a gay South Florida woman’s bid to get a divorce from her former partner.
Bondi’s office filed the papers late Oct. 22 in Broward County Circuit Court saying a judge should not grant Heather Brassner’s petition for a divorce from Megan Lade. The couple was united in a 2002 civil union in Vermont but broke up several years ago.
Among other things, the attorney general’s filing says a civil union is not the same as a marriage and should not be the basis to declare Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
On Oct. 23, Brassner released a statement in reaction to the filings saying, “From the very beginning, I have tried to make this all about love. But it was hurtful to read their arguments. It hurt to read that they think that I don’t deserve equality and that I’m not being harmed; and even worse, that I should have to prove that I am being harmed. She has no idea what it is like to be obligated for and to someone and you have no idea where they are what they might be doing to hurt me financially. It should be her job to prove that I’m not being harmed; it’s pretty obvious the harm that’s being caused to all of us who can’t get divorced or can’t get married. Could she imagine what it would be like if she wasn’t allowed to divorce her first two husbands? Pam Bondi got her two divorces. Why can’t I get my one? I don’t think she cares if I get divorced or not. I think this is all political, and I am a political pawn in her desire to raise money for her campaign. I’m not a pawn. I’m a human being.”
Brassner’s attorney Nancy Brodzki also released a statement in reaction to the filing.
“While it is disappointing that the Attorney General continues to defend Florida’s indefensible and unconstitutional ban on recognition of same sex unions, their Memorandum in Opposition was not unexpected. We have always expected them to fight to the very end on this important issue, sadly. We remain confident that the merits of our own arguments will prevail, as they did on August 4. We believe that Judge Dale Cohen will once again declare the ban unconstitutional, recognize Ms. Brassner’s civil union from Vermont as the substantial equivalent of marriage and dissolve it. And we expect the Attorney General to appeal that decision. Their arguments lack merit and substance. But when you have no legal leg to stand on, but only bigotry, it is impossible to make a legal argument that is logical. I suppose that Gov. Scott and AG Bondi want to be on the wrong side of history, just like George Wallace and Bull Connor in Alabama, opposing racial integration until their last breath, even as the National Guard implemented the integration to which they were so adamantly opposed.”
Bondi has defended the ban enacted by voters in 2008 in several state and federal lawsuits in which judges have ruled it violates constitutional equal protection guarantees. Those rulings have all been appealed.
