The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the American Civil Liberties Union, and volunteer counsel from the law firm of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 21 Pennsylvanians who wish to marry in Pennsylvania or want the Commonwealth to recognize their out-of-state marriages. The lawsuit alleges that Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act and refusal to marry lesbian and gay couples or recognize their out-of-state marriages violates the fundamental right to marry as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Six same-sex couples, represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of New Mexico, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Albuquerque law firm Sutin, Thayer & Browne, APC, filed a lawsuit against the State of New Mexico and the Santa Fe and Bernalillo County Clerks seeking the freedom to marry. The lawsuit argues that the New Mexico marriage statutes and the New Mexico Constitution do not bar same-sex couples from marrying, and that the New Mexico Constitution requires the state to allow same-sex couples the freedom to marry.

Whether the Defense of Marriage Act violates equal protection by denying married gay couples recognition under federal law.

On behalf of nine Illinois couples seeking recognition for their shared love and commitment, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Illinois have filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of Illinois’ law that denies gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry. Currently, Illinois law excludes gay and lesbian couples from the recognition and protections that come with the universally recognized relationship status of marriage, and limits them instead to a separate civil union status.

Whether California’s Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman, violates equal protection.