The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday morning challenging Wisconsin's constitutional ban on gay marriage. Four couples are plaintiffs in the suit.
"We expect that this lawsuit will bring the freedom to marry to all Wisconsinites," Larry Dupuis, legal director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said at a news conference Monday at the Madison Concourse Hotel. Dupuis added that the lawsuit would "demonstrate that Wisconsin's refusal to allow marriages, or to recognize out-of-state marriages of gay and lesbian couples, violates the fundamental right to marry as well as the equal protection guarantee of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution."