A lawsuit filed against the State of Minnesota and its Hennepin County, after three gay couples were denied marriage licenses because of the state’s DOMA, won’t be heard by a Hennepin County judge, who dismissed the case sponsored by Marry Me Minnesota this week. How come?
In an order signed Monday, District Judge Mary Dufresne rejected an argument by the group Marry Me Minnesota that the state’s 13-year-old Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates same-sex couples’ rights to due process, equal protection, religious freedom and freedom of association. “Unless and until” the state Supreme Court overrules a 1971 decision limiting marriage to a man or a woman or repeals DOMA, Dufresne wrote, “Same-sex marriage will not exist in this state.”
Among the listed plaintiffs — who will be appealing — is Sean Campbell, the one-year son of Jessica Dykhuis and her partner Lindzi Campbell of Duluth.
