Lawyer drops suit
seeking to strike down same-sex-marriage ban

A Bangor, Mich., attorney has dropped her federal lawsuit that sought to strike down Michigan's constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Michigan voters approved the amendment in November. Jessie Olson filed the suit June 8 in U.S. district court in Kalamazoo and listed herself and her life partner, Tabitha A. Flatau, as coplaintiffs. They claimed the amendment to the state constitution violates the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Olson filed a notice of voluntary dismissal June 20, according to court documents. She said Tuesday she would reopen the lawsuit if the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan loses a similar suit it filed in state court in March. A federal court rule allows cases to be reopened without prejudice after being dismissed one time. The decision to drop the suit was made after talking and working with Michigan ACLU officials, Olson says. The lawsuit said the amendment to the state constitution is stripping away job benefits, such as health insurance, from homosexual and unmarried heterosexual domestic partners and their children. Going into the election, opponents of the state amendment said they worried about its possible effect on domestic-partner benefits for unmarried couples. On March 16, Attorney General Mike Cox said the amendment bars local and state governments, in future labor contracts, from designating gay partners of employees to receive health and retirement benefits also given to spouses. He wrote in an opinion that the city of Kalamazoo's policy of offering benefits to same-sex partners violates the amendment. Five days later the Michigan ACLU challenged Cox's opinion in a still-pending lawsuit filed in Ingham County circuit court. Those bringing that suit are 21 same-sex couples--including Kalamazoo city employees, workers at state universities, and employees at various state agencies and departments--and a Washington-based AFL-CIO group, National Pride at Work, that backs gay rights. (AP)