Lawyers for Same-Sex Couples Seeking Marriage in Washington State Petition Supreme Court to Reconsider Last Month's

<p>(Seattle, August 29, 2006) — Attorneys representing the 19 same-sex Washington couples who argued for their clients’ right to marry under the Washington State Constitution have petitioned the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider its July 26, 2006 5 – 4 decision.</p>

<p>Two cases were decided jointly last month — <em>Andersen v. King County</em> in which the eight couples are represented by Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women’s Law Center and <em>Castle v. State</em> whose 11 couples are represented by the ACLU of Washington.</p>

<p>“We still believe that Washington’s Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry,” said Jon W. Davidson, Legal Director of Lambda Legal. “Instead of explaining why our clients couldn't marry, the court told us why marriage is good for different-sex couples. Barring same-sex couples from marriage only hurts same-sex couples and their families — it doesn't help anyone.”</p>

<p>In August 2004, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing ruled that the Washington State Constitution guarantees basic rights to lesbian and gay people — and that a state law prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying violates those rights. The ruling said the state Constitution requires same-sex couples to have equal access to marriage, and that the couples represented by Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women’s Law Center had to be given marriage licenses. One month later, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks ruled similarly in the <em>Castle</em> case brought by the ACLU. Both decisions were appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court, which overturned the lower courts’ decisions on July 26.</p>

<p>“The Court did not come to grips with the very real harms done to same-sex couples by denying them equal access to the many benefits of legal marriage,” said Paul Lawrence, the lead attorney on the ACLU’s legal team for the case. “The court's reliance on the tie between procreation and marriage does not make sense. Many opposite-sex couples get married with no intention of having children, and many same-sex couples do in fact raise children.”</p>

<p>According to the rules of the Washington Supreme Court, parties have 14 days from the issuance of a decision to petition for reconsideration. Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Women’s Law Center filed for an extension of that period, which was granted and expired after 5:00 p.m. today. If the Supreme Court rejects the motion for reconsideration filed today, the July 26 decision would become final. If the motion for reconsideration is granted, the justices could change their decision without holding another oral argument or they could decide to hold another oral argument for further clarification.</p>

<p>“This rule allowing motions seeking reconsideration exists because of cases exactly like ours,” said Nancy Sapiro, Senior Counsel at Northwest Women’s Law Center. “Since the stakes in this case are so high — whether or not the state will recognize our clients’ families and thousands like them throughout the state — we felt that we had to use every option available to us to show the justices the logic behind our arguments and how their decision as it is currently reasoned falls short.”</p>

<p>In May 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to open marriage to same-sex couples. A Boston <em>Globe</em> poll taken in March 2005 found that 56% of people in Massachusetts favor marriage for same-sex couples. This percentage is nearly a mirror image of the 53% of people in the Bay State who had opposed such marriages just a year earlier in February 2004, before couples of the same sex could legally wed there. Spain, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have all stopped prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying nationwide, and South Africa is scheduled to do so by the end of 2006.</p>

<p>Representing the eight couples in the <em>Andersen v. King County</em> are Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Jennifer C. Pizer; Jamie Pedersen, former member of Lambda Legal’s Board of Directors and an attorney at the Seattle law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis; Patricia Novotny, Lisa Stone and Nancy Sapiro of the Northwest Women’s Law Center; and Bradley Bagshaw and Jennifer Divine, of the Seattle law firm Helsell Fetterman LLP. Representing the 11 couples for the ACLU are Paul Lawrence, Matthew Segal and Amit Ranade of the law firm Preston Gates & Ellis; Karolyn Hicks of the firm Stokes Lawrence; Roger Leishman of the firm Davis Wright Tremaine; and ACLU of Washington staff attorney Aaron Caplan.</p>

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<p>Contact:</p>
<p>Lambda Legal<br>
Mark Roy: 212-809-8585 ext. 267</p>

<p>Northwest Women’s Law Center<br>
Nancy Sapiro: 206-682-9552</p>

<p>ACLU of Washington<br>
Doug Honig: 206-624-2184 ext. 241</p>