A local lesbian couple filed a federal lawsuit last week that could bring the fight for marriage equality in Pennsylvania one step closer to success. On Sept. 26, Philadelphia residents Cara Palladino and Isabelle Barker filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to challenge the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex couples from marrying in the state. The couple is suing to have their legal marriage recognized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit states that by failing to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states, Pennsylvania is denying couples and their children any social recognition that comes with the status of marriage. “Marriage has profound social significance for both the couple that gets married and the family, friends and community that surround them,” the suit states. Following the summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, Pennsylvania has seen a flurry of marriage-equality activity. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal suit in July on behalf of 10 same-sex couples, two children of one couple and a widow. The case will come up for a scheduling hearing Oct. 9. And last week, a group of same-sex couples challenged the law in state court. This suit, however, challenges section two of the state’s DOMA; instead of targeting the state’s refusal to marry same-sex couples, it seeks “the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution to decrees, licenses, orders and judgments entered by other states.” The law prohibits the state from recognizing any form of same-sex union, even those legally entered into in other states. The suit holds that the law violates couples’ constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. Michael Banks and Eric Kraeutler of Morgan Lewis & Bockius were brought on as lead counsel and Tiffany Palmer and Benjamin Jerner of Jerner & Palmer, P.C., as co-counsel. Gov. Tom Corbett and Attorney General Kathleen Kane were named as defendants. Palmer said she expects the case to move quickly. “This is about Pennsylvania giving full recognition to same-sex couples and to make sure that there is a right for individuals to travel without having their marriages and family status stripped,” Palmer said. Equality Forum coordinated the lawsuit. Executive director Malcolm Lazin said he had looked at a number of couples but that Palladino and Barker’s story makes them the best fit for the litigation. “They met in New York in the late 1990s and have been together ever since,” he explained. “They were married in early 2005 in Massachusetts and they happen to be among the first Americans to be legally married.” The couple registered for domestic-partnership status in New York in 2002. They relocated to Massachusetts in 2004 for employment purposes and ultimately moved to Pennsylvania the following year after Barker accepted a job at Bryn Mawr College. Palladino is also employed at the college. Barker said the move was inevitable, although it was hard to leave behind the support of Massachusetts’ marriage law. “There is something empowering about having a marriage license and living in a community and state that has very publicly endorsed that.” Barker added that although the two have always lived in an affirming community in Pennsylvania, it wasn’t until 2007, when they filed for Barker to get onto Palladino’s health insurance, that they felt a sense of discrimination. “Even though we had our marriage license from Massachusetts, we had to step backwards and fill out the paperwork required to claim domestic partnership, but we had to provide evidence of joint financial entanglements — joint bank accounts, a lease with both our names on it, co-ownership of a house,” she said. “We have the same marriage license, the same piece of paper, that a heterosexual couple in Massachusetts has. We went through the same process and for that to not be able to be recognized by a human-resources employee because of Pennsylvania’s legislation was just frustrating.” In 2009, Barker and Palladino welcomed their first son and, later that year, their second-parent adoption was finalized. Palmer, who connected the couple with Equality Forum, said that because Kane announced she would not defend the state’s DOMA in the ACLU case, she believes the same will apply for this case. “I imagine she won’t do the same, although she hasn’t explicitly said it yet,” Palmer said. “The suit is still new and probably hasn’t reached her yet.” Kane’s office did not return a request for comment from PGN. Palmer said the growing number of legal challenges increase the chance of success. “I think the approach is evolving in Pennsylvania,” she said. “Anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to challenge it, people are. I think we will see more suits developing and evolving.” Lazin said pressing for recognition of out-of-state marriages is an innovative approach that he believes could be a model for other states. “After a consultation with distinguished law-school faculty and other lawyers who specialize in LGBT rights, we believe that this is the next area of opportunity in regards to marriage recognition,” he said. “This will be a landmark lawsuit and we anticipate that there will be others who will mirror our lawsuit around the country.” Lazin said he remains cautiously optimistic about the suit. For Barker, the chance to fight discriminatory legislation has been rewarding. “When I look over the past decades of American history, it feels remarkable to see the history of civil rights expanded,” she said. “I am amazed in the course of my lifetime how much things have changed culturally and socially around acceptance and how social and cultural worlds have challenged homophobia.”
