FLORIDA: Couple Sues For Marriage Recognition After Driver's License Denial

A Florida couple has sued the state for the recognition of their New York marriage after being told that they could not register their new names with the DMV. Via the Orlando Sentinel:

Daniel Wall-DeSousa, 40, and Scott Wall-DeSousa, 37, filed suit this week in Orlando federal court, asking a judge to force the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to recognize their marriage. They got married in New York City Dec. 6 and a few days later changed their names through the Social Security Administration, each adding the last name of the other, according to the suit. They both also got new Florida drivers licenses, showing their new last names, but the department then cancelled them. "Same sex marriage certificates are not recognized as valid in Florida," the department wrote in a form letter sent to each man. "Such a certificate from another state is not considered as a legal basis for a name change on a Florida driver license." The men on Tuesday filed suit against the department, its executive director Terry L. Rhodes, Gov. Rick Scott and a manager in the Brevard County's tax collector's office, where drivers license applications are processed, accusing them of violating their constitutional rights and asking U.S. Magistrate David A. Baker to order Florida to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

One of the men, a public high school science teacher, has cut his cancelled driver's license in half and mailed it back to the state, saying that he will walk or ride the bus until his marriage is recognized. In a separate action, he and his husband have asked the Brevard County School Board to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT employees.