News & Commentary

Update:  In February, we amended our complaint to add four additional couples for a total of eight couples seeking the freedom to marry in Wisconsin or have their out-of-state marriages recognized.  We also requested a preliminary injunction but withdrew that motion when the Court suggested we instead enter into an expedited schedule for a final ruling and after district attorneys in Milwaukee and Eau Claire agreed not to prosecute two of the couples for leaving Wisconsin to marry.

As the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU-WI), and a gay man, I spend a lot of time defending or promoting the civil liberties and rights of other people, regardless of their sexual orientation.  The freedom to marry is an exception.  Thirty-four years ago, when my partner Bob and I got together, very few people or groups talked about marriage equality for gay couples.  Whether or not we wanted to marry wasn’t even a topic for discussion.  Thirty-four years ago the conversation around LGBT rights was much more likely to be about police harassment, unpunished hate crime violence, and job discrimination. 

The American Civil Liberties Union's primary work is litigation, but this month it's moonlighting as a wedding planner as part of its role in the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

Salud Garcia and Pam Kleiss

Written by Wisconsin Gazette Wednesday, 26 March 2014 06:21

The following is an opinion piece reprinted with permission from the author.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the state’s same-sex marriage...

The American Civil Liberties Union is going to federal court Monday in Wisconsin, suing Gov. Scott Walker and other officials to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples there.

A group of same-sex couples has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit for the couples in federal court in Madison on Monday morning. The lawsuit argues that 17 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to marry. It goes on to say Wisconsin's ban deprives same-sex couples of the legal protections afforded married couples for no reason other than their sexual orientation and gay Wisconsin couples who go out of state to marry could face prosecution when they return.