ALABAMA: SPLC Sues For Marriage

Via press release from the SPLC:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will announce on Thursday a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Alabama’s prohibition against recognition of out-of-state marriages of gay and lesbian Alabamians. The lawsuit seeks to invalidate those provisions of Alabama’s Marriage Protection Act and the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment that prohibit such recognition. The SPLC will announce the lawsuit on behalf of Paul Hard, who married Charles David Fancher, both Alabamians, in Massachusetts. David was later killed in a car crash North of Montgomery that led to a wrongful-death case on David’s behalf. Alabama law now prevents Paul from being recognized as the surviving spouse, thereby precluding him from sharing in any proceeds of the wrongful death case. Paul’s lawsuit seeks recognition of his marriage under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

And that reduces the number of states NOT fighting a marriage equality lawsuit to nine: Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wyoming, (Kansas, Montana, and Ohio are fighting marriage-related suits that do not seek legalization.)