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Gay Montana Couples Sue State


Montanax390 (Photos.com) | Advocate.com

Seven gay couples in Montana filed a lawsuit against the state Thursday for its failure to provide legal protections to gay couples and their families.

In 2004 voters approved a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage or same-sex couple recognition. Under the law gay and lesbian couples can be barred from visiting their partners in the hospital and left out of conversations about emergency medical care, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana. Among other benefits that are available to straight couples, state inheritance laws also do not recognize same-sex couples and can leave surviving partners with nothing if their partners die without valid wills.

The couples contend the discrimination violates the state constitution's protections to rights to privacy, dignity, and the pursuit of life's basic necessities as well as its guarantees of equal protection and due process, according to the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs.

Kellie Gibson and partner Denise Boettcher are one of the couples involved in the suit.

"Denise has stood with me through 56 brain surgeries and over 300 spinal taps, yet to Montana we're nothing more than strangers," Gibson said in a statement. "Knowing we have legal protections for our family sure would make it easier on both of us the next time I have a medical crisis."

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Reader Comments
  • Name: Riley
    Date posted: 8/13/2011 9:34:37 PM
    Hometown: Laurel, MT

    Comment:

    This is my science teacher and her partner! I love both of them so much.

  • Name: Chuck
    Date posted: 7/25/2010 1:56:37 PM
    Hometown: Missoula

    Comment:

    You guys are all old and gay! make it legal! F the system

  • Name: DonPat
    Date posted: 7/25/2010 1:16:23 PM
    Hometown: Evansville

    Comment:

    If any lawsuit makes its claim based on a state constitution, and all the parties live in that state, the suit must be filed in state court. Federal courts have very limited jurisdiction, and are generally not considered qualified to interpret state constitutional law. Under the settled law of this country, the ultimate arbiter of a state's constitution is its own Supreme Court. Not even the US Supreme Court can overturn a state Supreme Court's interpretation of its own state's constitution. The US Supreme Court is allowed to rule that a state constitutional provision is in violation of the US Constitution.

  • Name: Aaron
    Date posted: 7/23/2010 1:40:23 PM
    Hometown: Helena, Montana

    Comment:

    Here is a link to the story in the local news paper. hope this clears up confusion. http://helenair.com/news/article_49e20478-9621-11df-8731-001cc4c03286.html

  • Name: Michael W
    Date posted: 7/22/2010 11:50:14 PM
    Hometown: Bremerton, WA

    Comment:

    d. The real d, I think I understand where you're coming from. Neither this article, nor any of the others I've checked on this story, say whether it's a federal or a state lawsuit. Federal would make more sense, but I don't understand how a state suit would work against a state constitutional amendment. I haven't lived in Montana since 1982, so I'm not up on their legal system.

  • Name: Don
    Date posted: 7/22/2010 6:58:16 PM
    Hometown: New Hope

    Comment:

    Kellie Gibson and Denise Boettcher keep fighting! Destroy your enemies. Our thoughts and support are with you.



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