Colorado Marriage Amendment Challenged On Establishment Clause Grounds

Suit has been filed in a Colorado state court challenging the provision in Colorado's state contitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Yesterday's Daily Camera reports that Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder filed suit on Monday. They were denied a marriage license last year by the Denver clerk and recorder. The lesbian couple claims that the state constitutional provision, adopted by the voters in 2006, violates the Establishment Clause of the federal constitution because its passage was religiousl motivated. Separately, the couple is scheduled to appear in court his week on trespassing charges growing out of their refusal to leave the clerk's office after their marriage licence was refused.