American Civil Liberties Union

Judy Trampf and Katy Heyning, one of the couples seeking to become part of the lawsuit that will determine the fate of domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on behalf of five same-sex couples asking that the couples be allowed to participate in a lawsuit that will decide whether the state’s newly enacted domestic partner law violates Wisconsin’s anti-gay marriage amendment. Anti-gay activists have asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to strike down the domestic partner law as inconsistent with the marriage amendment.

The couples also ask the Court to reject the petition and send the case to a trial court so that evidence can be presented to show that the domestic partner law does not violate the anti-gay marriage amendment that passed in 2006. The anti-gay activists who are seeking to take away the legal protections for registered domestic partners have claimed that they need a speedy resolution and are entitled to go directly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because the modest legal protections granted to same-sex couples through the law somehow affects the marriages of straight couples. Rather incredulously, they also claim that it would be in the best interest of lesbian and gay couples to have a speedy resolution even though they are asking the court to strip domestic partners of all legal protections.

According to the ACLU, there are important factual issues in the case, such as the many ways in which domestic partnership differs from marriage, that call for the kind of testimony that same-sex couples can provide to the Court. To consider this important evidence, the Court should refuse to accept this case directly but instead allow a circuit court to develop the factual record.

Status: VICTORY! The Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the case and declined to put a hold on the domestic partnership registry.