Failed bar exam
applicant sues over same-sex marriage test question

Stephen Dunne, a Massachusetts man who failed his bar exam by less than two points, is suing the test administration agency, alleging that one question required test takers to "affirmatively accept, support, and promote homosexual marriage and homosexual parenting," The National Law Journal reported Monday. Dunne says he failed the test because he did not answer this question. In addition to the testing agency, his lawsuit names the state's supreme judicial court, which in 2003 ordered the state to offer marriage rights to gay couples, and four of the court's justices. He claims his First Amendment right to exercise his religion was violated, and he seeks "preliminary and permanent injunctions" against the testing agency's consideration of the question in regard to his exam and those of all future applicants. He also seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners, which administers the test, declined to comment to the Journal, as did a supreme judicial court spokeswoman. (The Advocate)