Jan 21, 2014
By Daniel Lastra
Left to Right: Don Johnston and Jorge Isaias Diaz, Jeff and Todd Delmay, Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price, Vanessa and Melanie Alenier, Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber – These are part of the six couples who filed a lawsuit against Florida’s gay marriage ban in the Miami-Dade County Courthouse. (Photo Courtesy of Equality Florida)
In 2008 Florida voters approved a law that banned any type of civil union, including marriage, between couples of the same sex, but now several gay couples in Miami are filing a civil rights lawsuit to repeal the law they argue violates the protections that the United States Constitutions affords all Americans.
Several Latinos are among the couples that are part of the lawsuit being filed by the gay rights advocacy group Equality Florida, with the help of several prominent LGBT attorneys who work in the state. The lawsuit was filed in the 11th Judicial Court of Florida in Downtown Miami, but the historic announcement was made in front of the LGBT Visitor Center located in South Beach. This is the first time a legal challenge of the gay marriage ban is brought up in a Florida court.
Among the couples are Catherina Pareto and Karla Arguello, who are raising children together.
“Florida is our home, it is where we are raising our children, and where we want to get married,” said Pareto. “Karla and I wish for our family the same things that other families want.
“We want to build our lives together, provide a safe and caring home for our child, and share in the responsibilities and protections of marriage.”
After a statewide petition drive managed to Amendment 2, also known as the “Florida Marriage Protection Amendment,” referendum on the ballot, voters passed the proposal into law. Despite many supporters of the law agreeing with the legal recognition of some civil unions–but not with the legalization of gay marriage itself–the amendment banned the recognition and benefits for unmarried couples, straight or gay. This means the legal protections that civil unions and domestic partnerships could give couples would are voided.
FILE-Brooke Gardner, of Indiana, top right, and Jesse Brown-Bosch, of Panama City, Fla., bottom right, listen to a speaker during a rally in support of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Defense of Marriage Act at the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Miami Beach, Fla., Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Florida has had a ban on gay marriage for years. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a pulmonologist, and his partner David Price have been together for almost 18 years. Price is the office manager for his partner’s medical office. They too have children together, but they say working in a medical practice together has made them witness first-hand the difficulties, such as being denied visitation rights, that gay couples can experience because of lacking legal protections.
“Being a doctor, I see people and families in crisis all the time,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “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 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling wiping out part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal anti-gay marriage law that had kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving tax, health and pension benefits. However, the issue of recognizing or allowing gay marriage is still left up to the states. A total of six couples are part of the lawsuit, and four of them have children together. They are being represented by the law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, attorney Elizabeth Schwartz and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
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