Pa. Gay Couple Fights Back

June 22, 2004

A lawyer representing a Pennsylvania gay couple wants a lawsuit thrown out that seeks to have a court declare state's Defense of Marriage Act legal and constitutional.

The suit, by 12 state representatives, is considered a pre-emptive move to stop same-sex couples from challenging the law which bans gay marriage.

We're convinced the real purpose of their lawsuit is to bully members of the gay and lesbian community, said Cynthia Schneider, who is representing Stephen Stahl and Robert Seneca.

The New Hope couple was turned down for the license at the Bucks County Courthouse in New Hope last March. As they began to prepare a legal challenge to the state's DOMA, the conservative legislators filed their case in a bid to prevent the couple from going to court.

They picked on the wrong two queers, Stahl, 55, said. All it did was light me up. They thought if I saw the names of 12 state reps it would intimidate me to the point of not moving forward.

In her brief to the court Schneider said that the legislators have no standing to file the lawsuit.

We allege they jumped the gun, and the wrong people are suing the wrong people at the wrong time, she said.

It's unprecedented for legislators to be suing simply for talking about the possibility of going to court. Stahl and Seneca were denied a marriage license and only discussed the possibility of suing.

Schneider is legal director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights.

Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996. The 12 legislators who filed the lawsuit were all sponsors of the bill.