LGBT Advocacy Groups Discourage Federal Marriage Lawsuits

Joe.My.God and the mainstream media are reporting on the rather lengthy joint statement ("Make Change, Not Lawsuits) by nine LGBT advocacy groups (Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Freedom To Marry, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Equality Federation, American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal) that was issued on Tuesday urging same-sex couples newly married in California to restrain themselves from filing lawsuits. An excerpt:

Now that we’ve won marriage in California, should we be bringing cases in other states or suing the federal government? If not, what can we do to help secure the freedom to marry nationwide?

Bottom Line. If you’re ready and it’s right for you, get married in California. If you do, claim the name and act like what you are--married. But don’t go suing right away. Most lawsuits will likely set us all back. There are other ways to fight which are more likely to win.

Summary: The fastest way to win the freedom to marry throughout America is by getting marriage through state courts (to show that fairness requires it) and state legislatures (to show that people support it). We need to start with states where we have the best odds of winning. When we’ve won in a critical mass of states, we can turn to Congress and the federal courts. At that point, we’ll ask that the U.S. government treat all marriages equally. And we’ll ask that all states give equal treatment to all marriages and civil unions that are celebrated in other states.

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There are many things people can and should do—urgently—to get marriage nationwide.

Working together we can defend the transformative wins in Massachusetts and California and build on them until we win equality, liberty and justice for all.

But one thing couples shouldn’t do is just sue the federal government or, if they are from other states, go sue their home state or their employer to recognize their marriage or open up the health plan. Pushing the federal government before we have a critical mass of states recognizing samesex relationships or suing in states where the courts aren’t ready is likely to get us bad rulings. Bad rulings will make it much more difficult for us to win marriage, and will certainly make it take much longer.