Garth Wangemann and Roy Badger don't want a big ceremony. No tuxedos, no receptions — just a nice dinner with a friend so the Riverwest couple can celebrate a marriage they long thought would not be recognized.
Wangemann is preparing for the phone call letting himand Badger know they can get hitched, officially.
"I'll have my clothes set up so I can put them on and run out the door," Wangemann said.
The two are thinkingthey'll wear collared shirts, nice slacks, and maybe ties, if it's not too hot that day.
Wangemann, 58, and Badger, 56, of are two of the four couples challenging the state's ban on gay marriage and civil unions in federal court.
While the gay community and others are hopeful Crabb will overturn the gay marriage ban, still others believe U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison should let the law — passed through a constitutional amendment — stand. A decision is expected soon.
Julaine Appling, a representative of Wisconsin Family Action, said she hopes Crabb will consider the voters who supported the constitutional amendment when she makes her decision. Appling's group was instrumental in promoting the referendum to adopt the ban and more recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.
"I don't understand when 'We the People' became 'I the Judge,' " Appling said. "We hope that Barbara Crabb will make her decision keeping in mind that we the people define marriage in our state as between one woman and one man."
For their part, Wangemann and Badger received a phone call last summer from the American Civil Liberties Union asking whether they would testify in the case.
"I had been complaining a lot about Wisconsin not being able to do what a lot of the other states did," Wangemann said. "I kept saying, 'We should be able to do this.' And then the ACLU called."
They agreed, and in February they and three other couples sued Gov. Scott Walker, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and other state officials to overturn a 2006 amendment to the state constitution banning same sex marriage and civil unions.
Changing opinions
The Wisconsin case comes amid a broad shift in public opinion about same-sex marriage.
Nationwide, same-sex couples have the right to marry in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Judges in seven of the remaining 31 states have issued rulings striking down same-sex marriage bans, with those rulings stayed as they work their way through appellate courts.
In Wisconsin, voters in 2006 resoundingly approved the same-sex marriage amendment, 59% to 41%. Every county in the state except Dane voted for it.
But the most recent Marquette Law School poll, released May 21, found 55% of registered voters statewide now favor allowing gay marriage, while 37% oppose it and 6% say they do not know.
Last last month, Van Hollen acknowledged he would not be surprised to lose the case. He asked the judge to immediately block her own decision if she does strike down the ban. Normally, lawyers wait until a judge rules before asking for a stay.
However Crabb rules, her decision is expected to be appealed. Wangemann and Badger said they would see her ruling through as many appeals as needed to get what they want — a wedding.
"We're in for the long haul," Wangemann said. "We have the opportunity to a leave a legacy for even the little kids right now who are five, six years old that may be gay when they get older and realize it. They'll never have to be concerned about wanting to marry somebody that they love. It will never even cross their minds."
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