Mike Hasten

Gannett Baton Rouge Bureau

4 couples contend state%27s refusal to recognize same-sex marriage violates constitutional guarantees

2 of the couples have children together%2C face additional obstacles

Another problem%3A La. tax returns use info from federal returns where the couples can file jointly

NEW ORLEANS — Four same-sex couples legally married in other states filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging Louisiana's refusal to recognize their marriages.

The lawsuit, filed by the Forum for Equality, charges that the state's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution guarantee of equal protection and due process.

"We are fortunate to live in Shreveport which, like New Orleans, grants comprehensive employment, housing and public accommodations to its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens," said lawyer and plaintiff L. Havard Scott, who married his partner Sergio March Prieto in 2000 in Vermont. "It's notable that Shreveport, a conservative north Louisiana city, is far more advanced than the state of Louisiana, which treats its LGBT citizens as badly as any state possibly can."



Scott, whose partner is a Spanish singer and actor with permanent U.S. residency, was writing in a Forum for Equality blog post. He met his partner in 1996 and they have been living together in a committed relationship since 1997, moving to Shreveport in 2003 to care for Scott's aging mother.

Other plaintiffs are New Orleans residents Henry Lambert and Carey Bond, who have been in a committed relationship since 1974 and married in New York in 2011; Jacqueline and Lauren Brettner, who have been partners since 2011, married in 2012 in New York and have one child together; and Nicholas Van Sickels and Andrew Bond, who have been in a committed relationship since 2003 and married in 2012 in the District of Columbia.

Van Sickels and Andrew Bond could not jointly adopt their daughter, so Van Sickels adopted her by himself in 2012 and must file legal documents annually so Andrew Bond can have limited legal rights to care for their child.

"We are both concerned," Andrew Bond said in the forum's blog post. "This is harmful to our daughter and all children of same-sex couples. I am her dad, too. A dad should not be without legal rights to his children."



Named as defendants are Secretary of Revenue Tim Barfield and state Registrar Devin George.

A federal judge Wednesday in Kentucky struck down that state's ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. On Jan. 14, another federal judge struck down Oklahoma's constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

This week, the American Civil Liberties Union in Missouri has said it would file suit to overturn that state's ban on same-sex marriage, and a lawyer in Cincinnati filed suit seeking to list the names of both same-sex parents on their child's birth certificate. On Jan. 6, a Phoenix lawyer filed suit challenging Arizona's definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

The Louisiana lawsuit points out that Louisiana recognizes heterosexual marriages from other states that are not legal in Louisiana, such as marriages between first cousins or common-law marriages.

While the IRS recognizes same-sex marriages and allows the couples to file joint returns, another of the complaints is that Barfield has issued an order requiring same-sex spouses to file state income-tax returns as single individuals.

Since much of Louisiana's tax returns are based on what is claimed on federal forms, the couples say they are forced to break laws and concoct fictitious federal returns to be able to file state returns. They assert that the requirement is a violation of free speech.

Contributing: Michele Marcotte, The (Shreveport, La.) Times