by Shaun Knittel - SGN Staff Writer

On July 22, seven committed same-sex couples filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana for failing to provide legal protections to same-sex couples and their families in violation of the Montana Constitution's right of privacy, dignity, and the pursuit of life's basic necessities and its guarantees of equal protection and due process.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the organization representing the couples, the goal of the lawsuit is to ensure that same-sex couples are able to protect their families with the same kind of legal protections that opposite-sex couples are offered through marriage.

Because there is a constitutional amendment in Montana barring Gay marriage, the seven same-sex couples in the lawsuit are seeking the protection of state-recognized domestic partnerships, similar to those in place in Washington state.

"Mary Anne and I are part of a family unit, bonded by love and mutual respect and a desire to share in a close relationship that benefits not only us, as partners, but our wider family and the entire community," said Jan Donaldson, a Helena, Montana nurse, of her 27-year relationship with her partner, pediatric neurologist Mary Anne Guggenheim. "We depend on one another in all aspects of our life together. We want to be able to do that with grace and dignity and to feel secure that our relationship will be respected. We want our relationship to be recognized for what it clearly is - a loving commitment of responsibility worthy of security and protection by the state."

According to the ACLU, Montana law automatically grants married heterosexual couples safeguards upon which they can depend in times of need. But under Montana law, it is possible for same-sex couples to be barred from visiting their partners in the hospital and to be left out of conversations about emergency medical care.

In addition, Montana inheritance laws refuse to recognize same-sex couples, and can leave surviving partners with nothing if the partners die without valid wills. Today's lawsuit seeks a mechanism such as domestic partnership laws adopted by several other states to provide similar protections for committed same-sex couples.

"It's unfair for same-sex couples who have made commitments and formed families to be treated by the state like legal strangers," said Betsy Griffing, legal director for the ACLU Montana. "LGBT Montanans are valuable and productive members of society who should be treated fairly if their partner is in the hospital or dies without a will."

Kellie Gibson of Laurel, Montana, who is raising two children with her partner Denise Boettcher, said, "Denise has stood with me through 56 brain surgeries and over 300 spinal taps, yet to Montana we're nothing more than strangers. Knowing we have legal protections for our family sure would make it easier on both of us the next time I have a medical crisis."

Plaintiffs in the case Donaldson and Guggenheim v. State of Montana are Mary Anne Guggenheim and Jan Donaldson of Helena, Stacey Haugland and Mary Leslie of Bozeman, Mike Long and Rich Parker of Bozeman, MJ Williams and Nancy Owens of Basin, Rick Wagner and Gary Stallings of Butte, Denise Boettcher and Kellie Gibson of Laurel, and Casey Charles and David Wilson of Missoula.

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