"Make Change, Not Lawsuits"

A broad coalition of nine major LGBT rights and legal groups have issued a joint statement asking out-of-state gay couples married in California NOT to then sue the federal government, their home states, or their employers for recognition of their marriage status.

Four lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups today issued a statement entitled "Make Change, Not Lawsuits."

The statement explains that while couples who go to California to marry should ask friends, neighbors and institutions to honor their marriages, they generally shouldn't file lawsuits to have their marriages recognized. The statement says that ill-timed lawsuits risk creating additional barriers to marriage for gay couples.

"Make Change, Not Lawsuits" was signed by four LGBT legal groups – the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) – and five other LGBT organizations: the Equality Federation, Freedom to Marry, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

View the entire joint statement here. (PDF.)