Nine additional couples have filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Denver in pursuit of marriage equality. The lawsuit is the second one filed in Colorado seeking to overturn Colorado’s ban on marriage equality. The first was filed in October on behalf of Rebecca Brinkman and Margaret Burd, who filed their case in Adams County, Colorado. Colorado allows LGBT couples to enter into civil unions, but has a constitutional ban on full marriage equality. This lawsuit names Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver City Clerk Debra Johnson as defendants. The plaintiffs in the suit consist of five couple who want to get married in Colorado and four couples who were married in other states and want Colorado to recognize their marriage.
"This denial of equal protection, due process and basic fairness violates the Constitution of the United States of America," says the lawsuit filed by the law firms of Reilly Pozner, Law of the Rockies and Gutterman Griffiths.
Although attorneys general from some states have declined to defend against similar lawsuits challenging same-sex marriage bans, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said his obligations are clear.
"It is the job of the Attorney General's Office to defend our state laws, and we will defend against this new lawsuit as we would any other," he said.
"Colorado law creates two classes of citizens: those free to marry the person they love, and those denied that fundamental right," the suit says. "Same-sex couples in Colorado are relegated to a second-class level of citizenship that denies their relationships the full panoply of rights enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples."
Five Colorado advocacy groups, including One Colorado and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, expressed support for the lawsuit.
The Denver Post has the full story.