WISCONSIN: State Supreme Court Says Domestic Partners Law Is Constitutional

Via press release from Lambda Legal:

Today the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the state’s domestic partnership registry as constitutional, bringing a joyful end to a long legal battle by Lambda Legal on behalf of Fair Wisconsin and five intervening defendant couples. “We’re thrilled that Wisconsin same-sex couples can keep the limited but very important protections that the domestic partnership registry grants them,” said Christopher Clark, Counsel for Lambda Legal. “The statute is clearly constitutional, and the Supreme Court of Wisconsin agreed with us. Gay and lesbian couples in Wisconsin no longer have to fear that the protections they have will be taken away by unnecessary anti-gay legal action. “We also look forward to the day - fast approaching - when Wisconsin will join its neighbors to the south and west and the growing number of states across the country where same-sex couples have the freedom to marry, rendering limited domestic partnership registry unnecessary. Wisconsin same-sex couples are entitled to the full range of legal protections that only marriage provides,” Clark added.

The lawsuit was brought by Wisconsin Family Action, who claimed that the domestic partners registry, which granted hospital visitation rights among other items, violated the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and "any legal status that is substantially similar to marriage."

White Supremacy Definition Fail

WISCONSIN: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To End Hospital Rights For Gay Couples

Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker has ordered the state to stop defending a 2009 law granting gay couples the right to visit each other in the hospital and make end-of-life decisions. The anti-gay group Wisconsin Family Action is suing the state to overturn the law.

On Friday, Walker filed a motion to stop defending the case. "Governor Walker, in deference to the legal opinion of the attorney general that the domestic partner registry...is unconstitutional, does not believe the public interest requires a continued defense of this law," says the brief, filed by Walker's chief counsel, Brian Hagedorn. Hagedorn told Dane County Circuit Judge Daniel Moeser that if he could not withdraw from the case, he would like to amend earlier filings to reflect Walker's belief that the registries conflict with the state constitution.

The LGBT group Fair Wisconsin will continue to defend the case in court.

Haters Challenge Wisconsin's DP Law

Anti-gay group Wisconsin Family Action has filed a challenge to the state's new domestic partners law, claiming it is in violation of the ban on same-sex marriage.

"Elected officials should never pass laws that violate the will of Wisconsin voters who legitimately amended the state constitution in a fair election," Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action and lead petitioner in the lawsuit, said in a statement. "This new domestic partnership scheme is a sneaky assault on marriage from those who are determined to redefine marriage in Wisconsin." Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the domestic partnerships were about providing legal protections to same-sex couples, not marriage. "This is simply a set of basic protections to ensure that people can get some simple, straightforward rules that help them," Sensenbrenner said. "No one ever set this up to be marriage." Wisconsin will become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. It is also the first Midwestern state to legislatively extend legal protections to same-sex couples.

Same-sex couples will be able to register as domestic partners in Wisconsin beginning August 1st. Wisconsin Family Action has filed their challenge directly to the Supreme Court, hoping for rapid action, something they are unlikely to see as the Supreme Court typically does not hear cases that have not worked their way through lower courts. Follow the case on the blog of the LGBT rights group, Fair Wisconsin.