Liberty Counsel
NEWS RELEASE

Contact: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT - 800-671-1776

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 29, 2004

Liberty Counsel, County Clerk, Church and Businesses Intervene in Lawsuit to Defend Traditional Marriage in Florida

Key West, FL – On Friday, June 25, Liberty Counsel attorneys intervened in a case to protect Florida’s definition of marriage from a court challenge by same-sex couples who want state-approved marriage licenses. Liberty Counsel attorneys intervened in Higgs v. State of Florida in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Monroe County, Florida, on behalf of Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm that is actively involved in defending the traditional family, Holmes County Clerk Cody Taylor, Keys Chapel Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and several local business owners who will be affected by the lawsuit.

Liberty Counsel’s President and General Counsel, Mathew Staver, drafted Florida’s Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), which was proposed in 1996 and passed in 1997 by the Florida Legislature. The DOMA states: “Marriages between persons of the same sex entered into in any jurisdiction, whether within or outside the State of Florida, the United States, or any other jurisdiction, either domestic or foreign, or any other place or location, or relationships between persons of the same sex which are treated as marriages in any jurisdiction, whether within or outside the State of Florida, the United States, or any other jurisdiction, either domestic or foreign, or any other place or location, are not recognized for any purpose in this state.” In addition to DOMA, Florida law also defines marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

Liberty Counsel works with legislators around the country in drafting and enacting DOMAs and has defended DOMAs and other marriage laws. Liberty Counsel recently received two judicial orders stopping a renegade New York mayor and town council members from defying New York law by performing same-sex marriages in New Palz, New York. Liberty Counsel successfully defended the first-ever challenge to a state DOMA in the Georgia case of Burns v. Burns, was successful in similar litigation in Connecticut and is currently handling the California cases of Thomasson v. Davis, defending the rights of the voters to limit marriage to one man and one woman, and Thomasson v. Newsom, attacking San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s illegal actions in issuing “same-sex” marriage licenses.

Staver said, “America became the greatest nation in the world due in large part to its commitment to the traditional family structure. We must fight back against the forces that seek to undermine what has served as the cornerstone of American society since its inception.” Staver added, “Not only law but common sense itself makes evident the fact that the state of Florida has a profound interest in preserving marriage between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of any other arrangement.” Staver concluded, “Suits like these will fuel the drive to pass a federal constitutional amendment to once and for all time preserve marriage as one man and one woman.”

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