An expected lawsuit challenging North
Dakota's ban on gay marriage will leave no state without an active
lawsuit challenging such bans.
Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney
Joshua Newville told The
Washington Post that “there will be a case filed
challenging North Dakota's same-sex marriage ban.”
Newville is representing six gay
couples in a lawsuit challenging South Dakota's restrictive marriage
ban.
(Related: Six
couples challenge South Dakota's gay marriage ban.)
Newville confirmed that the lawsuit
would be filed within six to eight weeks.
On Wednesday, Thompson Mayor Karyn
Hippen joined Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, making her the first
mayor in the state to endorse marriage equality. Hippen leads a town
with fewer than 1,000 residents.
A large majority (73%) of North Dakota
voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage
as the union of a man and a woman. The amendment also prohibits the
state from recognizing gay couples with civil unions or domestic
partnerships and reinforces state laws.