Four same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s gay-marriage ban and its refusal to recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed in other states, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) says.
Lawyers Deborah Ferguson and Craig Durham, as well as the NCLR, are representing the Boise couples, Sue Latta and Traci Ehlers, Lori and Sharene Watsen, Shelia Robertson and Andrea Altmayer, and Amber Beierle and Rachael Robertson.
Lori Watsen, who is a social worker, notes that while she and her partner were married in New York and held another wedding celebration in Boise, Idaho “treats us as if our legal marriage never happened.” The Watsens, who have a son, say they’ve had to take “special legal steps and incur costs to protect our family as much as possible,” Lori says, adding that even those measures “cannot replace all of the protections that are given to married couples.”
Altmayer says her partner is not recognized as a legal parent of their son and is worried about being unable, for whatever reason, to make decisions for him.
NCLR’s Shannon Minter argues that the law should not be an impediment to couples’ ability to support their families.
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