Florida

Attorney General Intervenes in More Gay Marriage Cases

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office filed motions to intervene in more same-sex marriage cases, including the Broward County cast of Heather Brassner.

“Ultimately, finality in all pending challenges to the voter-approved marriage provision will come from the U.S. Supreme Court,” Bondi’s office said in a statement.

Brassner’s case was in the news earlier this week when Broward County Judge Dale Cohen vacated his decision from July that found Florida’s gay-marriage ban was unconstitutional.

Judge Cohen vacated his decision saying, “the Petitioner, Heather Brassner, has failed to comply with [state law] by failing to notice the Office of the Attorney General of these proceedings by either registered or certified mail,” the Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

Attorney Nancy Brodski, who represents Brassner, said the vacated decision was “just a speed bump along the way.”

"Although we had given the Attorney General notice, and had had electronic communication, and had actually had telephonic communication, the statute requires us to send it certified mail," Brodski said.

The Brassner case, which the attorney general intervened in Friday, is related to a 2002 civil union in Vermont involving Brassner and Megan Lade. The two separated and Brassner wants a divorce so she can remarry, but Florida, where Brassner has lived for 14 years, doesn’t recognize the civil union.

Complicating matters, Lade has disappeared seemingly without a trace, and hasn't been found, even with the help of a private investigator.

Civil unions were officially dissolved in Vermont in 2009, when the state began allowing same-sex marriages. But the dissolution of the civil union is only allowed when both parties are available to sign the requisite forms.

The Attorney General’s office has intervened in two other cases from South Florida in which two judges said Florida’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. A federal court has also ruled that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional.

The cases where the Attorney General has intervened are currently on appeals. All decisions invalidating the same-sex ban are on hold until the appeals are completed.

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