Thursday 30 July, 1998
ANCHORAGE—The Alaska Civil Liberties Union and the national ACLU's
Gay/Lesbian Rights Project today filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to strike from the November ballot a proposed constitutional “amendment” prohibiting state recognition of same-sex marriages.
The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court against Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer, Director of the Division of Elections Sandra Stout, and the State of Alaska, on behalf of Liz Dodd, Auke Bay; Vic Fischer, Anchorage; Katie Hurley, Wasilla; Ernest Line, Wasilla; and George and Jean Rogers, Juneau. Plaintiffs are all longtime Alaskans who are registered voters planning to vote in November. Hurley and Fischer served as members of the Constitutional Convention. Plaintiffs wish to preserve the amendment and revision processes set forth in Article XIII of the Alaska Constitution.
In May, the Alaska legislature passed Senate Joint Resolution 42, amending the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. Earlier this month, Lieutenant Governor Ulmer certified the measure as Ballot Measure 2 on the November ballot.
Jennifer Rudinger, Executive Director of the AkCLU, said Measure 2 represents a “sharp break” from Alaska's longstanding traditions of equality and privacy for all. “Our whole system of government in Alaska, as set forth in the Alaska Constitution, is based on the fundamental notion that all people are entitled to equal protection under our laws. Measure 2 so radically alters this underlying principle of equality that it amounts to a revision of the Alaska Constitution and not an amendment at all,” she said.
“If the legislature wishes to revise the constitution, Article XIII says they have to call a constitutional convention,” explained Rudinger. “Instead, Measure 2 is a wolf in sheep's clothing – a revision of our entire philosophy of governance disguised as a constitutional amendment.”
Attorneys in the case are Allison Mendel of Mendel & Associates in Anchorage, as Cooperating Attorney for the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, Beth Stevens of Sullivan & Cromwell in Los Angeles, as a Cooperating Attorney for the ACLU, and Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU's Gay/Lesbian Rights Project in New York.
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