This week a Milwaukee lesbian couple filed a lawsuit directly with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an effort to invalidate Wisconsin’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
According to the suit, Katherine Halopka-Ivery tried to transfer ownership of real estate in her name to the couple and Milwaukee County register of deeds officials refused to record the transfer unless the couple filed for a Wisconsin domestic partnership.The suit contends that Wisconsin’s current law recognizing only different-sex marriages violates equal protection and due process, establishes a two-tiered regime that harms same-sex couples, and interferes with “fundamental rights regarding deeply personal choices about marriage and family life.”
It further contends there was no legitimate secular purpose for Wisconsin to ban same-sex marriage, only religious reasons.
Considering the success of other challenges to bans on same-sex marriage in other states, I’m hopeful this challenge will set our state on a course towards marriage equality.