A petition with more than 3,000 signatures will be delivered to Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Thursday requesting the state drop its appeal of a federal judge’s decision to lift the state’s same-sex marriage ban before oral arguments begin Tuesday.
The petition will be delivered at noon to Van Hollen’s office, located on West Main Street on the Capitol Square.
The petition drive is being coordinated by Wisconsin Unites for Marriage. The group was formed on Aug. 7 by Fair Wisconsin, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and Freedom to Marry with the intent to spark conversation and raise awareness about marriage equality in Wisconsin.
The delivery of the petition is the first event leading up to Tuesday’s case before U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
On Monday, the “marriage bus tour” will make stops at 10 a.m., at the South Central LGBT Community Center, 600 Williamson St., in Madison; a 12:30 p.m. stop in Milwaukee; and a 2 p.m. stop in Racine, according to the event website.
Once in Chicago, a rally is planned for 5:30 p.m. Monday night, August 25, at the Chicago Federal Plaza.
The rally will include plaintiffs, faith leaders and marriage equality supporters from Indiana and Wisconsin, as well as marriage equality advocates from Illinois who want to express support for same-sex couples in neighboring states.
Illinois state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who authored the Illinois law legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, will kick off the event.
Crabb initially ruled on Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban in June. Confusion ensued for about a week, resulting in some counties issuing marriages licenses. In Dane County, 215 same-sex couples were married between June 6-13, according to Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell.
After a week of uncertainty in which some counties were marrying same-sex couples and others were not, Crabb issued an order on June 13 that Wisconsin officials could no longer enforce the state's same-sex marriage ban, but then immediately put that order on hold, pending the results of the appeals process.
Crabb’s ruling was quickly appealed by Van Hollen on behalf of the state, setting up oral arguments Aug. 26. The Wisconsin case was joined with a similar case from Indiana. These cases will now be moving jointly through the legal process.
Unlike Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are the only Midwest states where same-sex marriage is illegal. The law is being challenged in those three states.
Virginia is the latest state to have its ban on same-sex marriage struck down by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, same-sex marriages will be legal in that state beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday.
The number of cases stems from last summer’s joint rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. In one, the court ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act applied to all married couples. The ruling, however, did not say states have to marry same-sex couples.
