paul hard sam wolfe and david dinielli.jpg

Paul Hard, right, talks with Southern Poverty Law Center attorneys David Dinielli, left, and Sam Wolfe outside the federal courthouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 13, 2014. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- A Montgomery man who married another Alabama man in Massachusetts is challenging Alabama's law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Charles David Fancher was killed in a car crash north of Montgomery after his marriage to Paul Hard. The accident led to a wrongful death case.

The Alabama law prevents Hard from sharing in any proceeds from that case, according to lawyers with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is representing Hard.

The SPLC announced Hard’s lawsuit at a news conference at the federal courthouse in Montgomery this morning.

Hard’s lawsuit seeks recognition of his marriage under the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution. His case seeks to invalidate parts of Alabama’s Marriage Protection Act and Sanctity of Marriage Amendment.

Gay marriage bans face court challenges in other southern states. A federal judge on Wednesday struck down part of Kentucky's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Cases are also pending in Missouri, Louisiana and Texas.

At today's news conference, Hard described the hurt he felt when hospital workers refused to provide him any information about Fancher's condition after the accident. A receptionist told him that he was not a member of Fancher's family and that gay marriages were not recognized in Alabama. Hard learned from a hospital orderly that Fancher had died after about a half-hour of trying to get information.

A funeral home director later insisted that Fancher's death certificate indicate Fancher was never married, citing state law.

"If I can spare one other person that kind of indigity and hurt, I would do it," Hard said today. "If I can let people know how this law unjustly and cruelly affects people, I will do it. And ultimately I hope that these laws are overturned so that it now longer can give folks permission to treat Americans as second-class citizens."

Hard, 55, who teaches counseling and psychotherapy at Auburn University Montgomery, is also seeking to have Fancher's death certificate changed to say that he was married.

Fancher, who was 53 when he died, was an information technology director at a trucking company in Birmingham.

They were married in May 2011, and the fatal accident happened during the night of Aug. 1, 2011. Fancher's car struck an overturned UPS truck blocking the northbound lanes of Interstate 65, according to Hard's lawsuit.

The wrongful death case was filed by the administrator of Fancher's estate. It is pending in federal court in Montgomery. Hard is not a party in that case. If Hard prevails in his lawsuit, he would be entitled to proceeds from that case.

Named as defendants in Hard's case are Gov. Robert Bentley, Attorney General Luther Strange and other officials, as well as the administrator of Fancher's estate.

The case was filed in December, but defendants were not served papers until today, the SPLC said.

Bentley stands by the Alabama laws and will fight the lawsuit, according to a statement from spokeswoman Jennifer Ardis.

"Governor Bentley will fight the merits of this lawsuit," Ardis said. "Like most Alabamians, the Governor strongly believes in the traditional definition of marriage, as being between a man and woman. He will work everyday to continue to protect the sanctity of marriage in Alabama."

A spokeswoman for Strange said the lawsuit was under review and that there would be no comment.

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, issued a statement today about Hard's lawsuit.

"This lawsuit is part of a coordinated liberal agenda that is designed to erode the conservative Alabama values that the citizens of our state hold close to their hearts," Hubbard said. "By an overwhelming vote in favor of the Sanctity of Marriage constitutional amendment, Alabamians strongly signaled their belief that marriage in our state exists only between a man and a woman. This Republican Legislature will continue fighting against the left-wing policies that Barack Obama and his liberal allies like the SPLC attempt to force upon Alabamians in spite of their deeply-rooted conservative beliefs. As I have noted before, the SPLC is nothing more than the ACLU with a southern accent."

including rights related to lawsuits and criminal cases.

David Dinielli, the SPLC's deputy legal director, said the SPLC supported Holder's efforts, but said they would not affect Hard's case.

"Alabama has created two classes of marriages within its borders and deemed one of those classes -- marriages between people of the same sex -- to be inferior to the other," Dinielli said. "This is unconstitutional. The only purpose of refusing Paul to have the proceeds from the wrongful death lawsuit is to punish him for having married a man, and to express moral disapproval of this choice. These purposes are improper and unconstitutional. Alabama must treat its LGBT citizens with equal dignity and respect under the law."

The Legislature passed the Marriage Protection Act in 1998 to ban recognition of same-sex marriages from other states. Alabama voters approved the Sanctity of Marriage constitutional amendment in 2005.

SPLC attorney Sam Wolfe said Fancher named Hard the sole beneficiary in his will.

"You'd think that would make David Paul's beneficiary in the wrongful death case," Wolfe said. "But Alabama's wrongful death law totally ignores wills, and only looks to family relations for distribution of wrongful death proceeds, including whether the decease has a surviving spouse."

Hard said he is a former Southern Baptist preacher who grew up in west Alabama. He said he and Fancher were together seven years before they got married on Marconi Beach in Massachusetts. He was asked what Fancher would have thought of his lawsuit.

"I think he would have told me to go for it," Hard said. "He was my biggest cheerleader. He was a big advocate for the rights of the community."

Updated at 4:52 p.m. to mention cases in other states and to say that the state attorney general's office had no comment. Updated at 5:22 p.m. to add statement from Gov. Bentley's office.

Updated at 5:28 p.m. to add comments from SPLC's Sam Wolfe.