FLORIDA: Six Gay Couples File Lawsuit To Overturn Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

Today Florida finally joined the list of states facing down a lawsuit to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage. Via the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

The couples are from Miami and the surrounding area. Four of the couples are raising children, and another couple has an adult child and two grandchildren. The couples are: Catherina Pareto and Karla Arguello; Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price; Vanessa and Melanie Alenier; Todd and Jeff Delmay; Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber; and Don Price Johnston and Jorge Isaias Diaz. They are represented by the law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz, attorney Mary B. Meeks, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). Said Pareto: “Florida is our home, it is where we are raising our child, and where we want to get married. 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.”

UPDATE: The ACLU is cheering.

“Marriage equality is inevitable and coming soon for Floridians because brave couples are demanding the dignity under the law that marriage provides. We are hopeful that the court hearing this case will agree with courts across the country that the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be permitted to marry. Following our victory last June in the Windsor case at the Supreme Court, which largely ended federal marriage discrimination, including for Floridians, the ACLU has been organizing legislative and ballot initiatives and also building lawsuits across the country—so far in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and Oregon—to ensure that the case that reaches the Supreme Court next leads to the nationwide solution we are all working so hard for. Just as Floridians benefited from the Windsor case and the case of Loving v. Virginia before that, we are confident that our work and the work of our fellow LGBT organizations will lead to finally bringing marriage equality to all fifty states, including Florida.”