Wisconsin Judge
Allows Challenge to Marriage Ban

A Wisconsin judge is allowing a legal challenge to the state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions. The amendment, approved by 59% of Wisconsin voters in 2006, is being contested by William McConkey, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor, according to the Capital Times in Madison.

The challenge is based on the referendum vote. McConkey claims that the ballot posed two questions at once, which violates a section of the state constitution mandating that questions be asked separately when amending the constitution.

The state assistant attorney general filed to dismiss the suit on grounds that the challenger is not directly affected by the amendment. The Wisconsin Family Council filed a friend-of-the-court brief to back the state's attempt to dismiss. The group tried to get the amendment on the ballot for three years before finally succeeding in November 2006, the Daily Cardinal (the University of Wisconsin-Madison newspaper) reported.

McConkey said he is straight and married with nine children and seven grandchildren. An attorney arguing on his behalf said that the proposed amendment violated the constitutional requirements for referendum language because voters had to endorse both civil unions and same-sex marriage or neither -- there was no choice to endorse one and not the other.

According to Lambda Legal, the Wisconsin legislature blocked a bill in 2000 that would have allowed the state to not recognize marriages that took place in another state. (The Advocate)