Lawsuit filed to halt Seattle gay marriages 

07:16 AM PST on Friday, March 12, 2004

From KING 5 Staff and Wire Reports

SEATTLE - A lawsuit by a Mississippi advocacy group on the behalf of a Seattle resident has been filed in Seattle challenging the authority of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to recognize the union of gay city employees married in other states.

The Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, representing Randall Leskovar, asked Judge James Doerty on Thursday to issue an order preventing the city from implementing the executive order the mayor signed earlier this week, said Brian Fahling, the attorney who filed the papers.

The suit was brought on with the support of some Seattle-area pastors. Its lawyer, Brian Fahling, said Nickels' action is clearly contrary to Washington state law that defines marriage as an oath between a man and a woman.

KING Christians rallied in downtown Seattle to oppose Mayor Greg Nickels' action to give rights to gay married couples.

“He's treating it and recognizing a void, unlawful marriage license in the state of Washington as though it's lawful,” said Fahling. “He can make the argument but he ought to lose and I suspect he will.”

At noon Thursday, several dozen Seattle-area ministers and their supporters gathered at the King County Courthouse to oppose gay marriages. They were supporting a lawsuit challenging the authority of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to recognize the union of gay city employees married in other states.

Calling Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels "arrogant" and his government "anarchy," the conservative Christians vowed to "protect society" from gay marriage

“We're here in support of the traditional definition - the only definition of marriage,” said Wayne Taylor of the Calvary Fellowship Church. “Very few people have been arrogant enough to try to redefine it and we're not going to stand idly by and say nothing.”

“We gonna show this city, we gonna show this state, we’re gonna show this government - don't mess with God's people,” said Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church.

Also, Seattle's Catholic Archdiocese weighed in on the issue, calling the mayor's actions "misguided and unfortunate."

In a news release, the diocese called “for public officials to honor the normal processes of government and to reaffirm the long-cherished definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman that has served throughout history as both a building block and mortar for church and society.”

Six couples filed suit in King County Superior Court on Monday, seeking to overturn the state’s Defense of Marriage Act, which made Washington one of 38 states defining marriage as the union of a man and woman. They cited the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution, which demands that no law confer rights to certain classes of citizens without applying to all citizens.

Nickels doesn’t have the authority to issue gay marriage licenses, as the mayors of San Francisco and New Paltz, N.Y., have done, because marriage licenses are handled by counties in Washington.

Ron Sims, the executive of King County, which includes Seattle, said he won’t begin issuing marriage licenses to gays because it is not his right to decide which laws to enforce. He welcomed the couples’ legal action, saying today’s laws must be changed to ensure equal protection when it comes to marriage.

The Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal organization based in Citrus Heights, Calif., said it expected to file its own lawsuit Friday seeking to block Seattle’s new policy.

“We will pursue any city, any mayor who decides to disobey the law of the land and the constitution of their respective state,” Brad Dacus, president of the group, said Thursday.