MIAMI - The U.S. Justice Department asked a judge Friday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging an 8-year-old law banning gay marriage, making it the federal government's first direct legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is fighting a lawsuit filed by four same-sex couples who argue the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The law defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman and lets states refuse to recognize gay marriages from other states.

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said it was the federal government's first direct legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.

The issue of gay marriages has become a theme of the presidential race, with President Bush calling for a ban of same-sex marriages in a constitutional amendment, which Democratic challenger John Kerry opposes.

Kerry also opposes gay marriage, but defends a gay couple's rights to the same legal protections as those conferred in marriage.

The Justice Department's motion to dismiss, filed Friday in Miami district court, argues that the couples have no constitutional standing to challenge the federal law because they are not married in any state and the law wasn't being applied to them. The law is consistent with due process and equal protection provisions of the constitution, the motion said.

"As far as the federal defendant is aware, every court to address this question - including the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit - has rejected federal constitutional challenges," the motion said.

The motion also said that the nation's high court has "defined the right to marry consistent with traditional understandings."

"Absent any history or tradition of same-sex marriage, there is no basis for defining that arrangement to be a fundamental constitutional right," the motion said.

The argument by the Justice Department that the couples have no legal standing is a "procedural one" that is a far cry from defending whether the law violates human liberties, said Jennifer Pizer, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal, a gay rights group.

"The fundamental right is the right to marry the person of your choice without the government getting involved there, like a matchmaker," Pizer said.

Attorney Ellis Rubin said he was preparing a response to the motion.

"This gives me the opportunity to depose the Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft, and anyone else responsible for defending this discriminatory and prejudicial act," Rubin said.

Rubin has filed several lawsuits in state courts throughout Florida representing same-sex couples who want marriage licenses but have been barred from getting them. He also sued the federal government in Tampa on behalf of a lesbian couple from Bradenton who were married in Massachusetts and want to have their union legally recognized in the rest of the country.

Florida has been a battleground for issues involving gays. Florida is the only state in the nation with a complete ban on adoption by gays, whether single or as a couple. The law, which was passed in 1977, has survived challenges in state and federal courts.

Close Window to Return to DontAmend Tampa Bay Website