AttyGen files State brief in Citizens for Equal Protection v Bruning

Update: State of Nebraska's brief now onlineFollow up: State appealed Federal Judge Bataillon's ruling in May that the Nebraska Constitutional Amendment against recognition of gay marriages or partnerships violated constitutional provisions. The Associated Press Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning argued Thursday that Nebraska’s ban on gay marriage should be restored. In a 110-page brief filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bruning said that U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon was wrong to strike down Nebraska’s 5-year-old ban. Bataillon ruled in May that the measure was too broad and deprived gays and lesbians of participation in the political process, among other things. Seventy percent of Nebraska voters approved the amendment in 2000. The ban “does not violate any person’s freedom of expression or association,” Bruning wrote. Opponents of the ban “are free to gather, express themselves, lobby, and generally participate in the political process however they see fit,” he said. “Plaintiffs are free to petition state senators to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Plaintiffs are similarly free to begin an initiative process to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot, just as supporters ... did.” Bataillon’s ruling did nothing to change the status of gay marriage in Nebraska. It was not allowed before the ban’s adoption and it remains against the law. The lawsuit challenging the ban was filed by New York-based Lambda Legal and the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Project. David Buckel, senior staff attorney at Lambda Legal, has called the ban “the most extreme anti-gay family laws in the nation.” Forty states have so-called “Defense of Marriage” laws. Opponents of gay marriage have pointed to Bataillon’s ruling as a reason to seek a national ban. While the amendment specifically banned gay marriage, it went further than similar bans in many states by prohibiting gay couples from enjoying many of the legal protections that heterosexual couples enjoy. Gays and lesbians who work for the state or the University of Nebraska system, for example, were banned from sharing health insurance and other benefits with their partners. Bataillon said the amendment interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements. The judge said the ban amounted to punishment by going beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman, noting that it also says the state will not recognize two people in a gay relationship “similar to marriage.” Bruning said “the presence of advocacy groups willing to file this case seems ample evidence that advocacy has not been impaired.” “Plaintiffs’ members enjoy all the benefits and protections of Nebraska law that any other person has,” Bruning said. “Their homosexual members have the same right to lobby for change as their heterosexual members.” —— Attorney General: http://www.ago.state.ne.us/ State of Nebraska'sbrief on line at 8th Circuit Court of appeals: U.S. District Court of Nebraska: http://www.ned.uscourts.gov/ Lambda Legal: http://www.lambdalegal.org/ Opposition to rights for same-sex couples: http://www.family.org