by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Wisconsin's Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state's constitutional ban on same sex marriage in a ruling announced June 30.

By a vote of 7-0, the court ruled in McConkey v. Van Hollen that the 2006 referendum in which voters amended the state constitution to restrict marriage to one man and one woman was properly framed.

Plaintiff William McConkey claimed that the referendum was illegal under Wisconsin law because it proposed more than one issue on a single ballot measure - banning both same-sex marriage and civil unions.

The 2006 ballot measure consisted of two sentences, one prohibiting same-sex marriage, the other dealing with other legal arrangements like civil unions.

"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state," the measure said.

McConkey claimed that marriage and civil unions were substantially different legal arrangements and therefore could not be prohibited by the same referendum.

The court rejected his reasoning, however.

Justice Michael Gableman said that both sentences "carry out the same general purpose of preserving the legal status of marriage in Wisconsin as between only one man and one woman."

The court's ruling does not affect same-sex domestic partnerships which became legal in Wisconsin in June 2009.

Wisconsin Family Action sued to overturn the domestic partnership law in July 2009, but in November the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected their suit in Appling v. Doyle.

Domestic partnerships in Wisconsin provide same-sex couples some - but by no means all - the rights enjoyed by married couples.

Wisconsin domestic partners have the right to inherit a partner's estate in the absence of a will, hospital visitation, and the ability to access family medical leave to care for a sick partner.

Same-sex domestic partners may jointly adopt children in Wisconsin and one partner may adopt the other's children.

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