A state judge on Monday will hear
arguments in a case challenging Florida's ban on gay marriage.
Aaron Huntsman, 43, and William Lee
Jones, 42, filed the case in April after they were denied a marriage
license by Monroe County Clerk Amy Heavilin.
The men, bartenders at 801 Bourbon Bar
in Key West, celebrated their 11th year together on June
10.
Voters in 2008 approved Amendment 2, a
constitutional amendment which prohibits the state from recognizing
any union other than a heterosexual marriage.
“Until it changes or is found
unconstitutional, it is the law,” Ron Saunders, general counsel at
the clerk's office, told The Florida Keys Reporter in April.
“No clerk in the state can do anything until a judge rules
otherwise or the law changes.”
Five additional challenges to the ban
are wending their way through state and federal courts, including one
heard last week.
(Related: Gay
rights foe compares overturning Florida's gay marriage ban to KKK
lynching.)