Jul 16, 2004  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

NINE SAME-SEX couples and a man whose partner died last year joined the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit announced July 7 against the City of Baltimore and four county clerks in Maryland. They contend that the state’s current law prohibiting civil marriage rights for gay couples violates the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection to all its citizens. Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich denounced the lawsuit, describing it as part of the ACLU’s “far left agenda,” and said he would support the state’s General Assembly in clarifying the current prohibition against same-sex marriage. Section 2-201 of Maryland’s Family Law Article states that, “Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this state.”

The group of gay Marylanders integral to the lawsuit includes men and women of diverse ages, backgrounds and circumstances.

Donna Myers & Maria Barquero
Donna Myers
Age: 29
Occupation: Former compliance officer for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Residence: Hollywood, Md.

Maria Barquero
Age: 35
Occupation: Former researcher for an investment firm in Washington, D.C. She now works in Internet-based travel in Costa Rica.
Residence: Costa Rica

Even though Donna Myers and Maria Barquero have been partners for nearly five years, they see very little of each other these days. Because immigration laws do not recognize gay couples, Barquero had to return to her native home in Costa Rica after her student visa expired in 2003.

“Right now, there is nowhere in the world where we can legally live together,” Myers said. “Prior to Maria’s visa expiration, our lives used to be very orderly. But now there is so much uncertainty.”

Barquero works part-time for a family member in Costa Rica, and as a result is paid considerably less, so she has more flexibility in her schedule to visit Myers.

The couple has met with an immigration lawyer, who can only tell them to find another work sponsor for Barquero. But even those efforts pose another set of problems, they say.

Patrick Wojahn & Dave Kolesar
Patrick Wojahn
Age: 28
Occupation: Lawyer for Whitman Walker Clinic

Dave Kolesar
Age: 26
Occupation: Engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

The couple met three-and-a-half years ago in a D.C. coffee shop and have been together ever since.

Patrick Wojahn and Dave Kolesar are buoyed by their youthful optimism when it comes to marriage. That’s not to say they did not have some trepidation about joining the lawsuit. Because they are both young, and Kolesar works for the Department of Defense, they have real concerns about potential detrimental effects the lawsuit could bring their way.

But the rights of marriage far outweigh any negative side effects to the lawsuit, they said.

Wojahn worries about a rare medical condition Kolesar was diagnosed with when he was a teenager. At age 18, Kolesar was told he had strep infection of the brain which required surgery.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital told Kolesar that he was the first living, documented case with the condition and that they could not say for certain if he would have any future complications.

Wojahn worries that if Kolesar becomes ill again, he might not be allowed to visit him in the hospital.

Charles Blackburn & Glen Dehn
Charles Blackburn
Age: 71
Occupation: Retired after a 25-year career in fund-raising. Was very active in the civil rights and civil liberties movement in the South in the 1960s. Was first ordained as a Unitarian minister.

Glen Dehn
Age: 66
Occupation: Retired after 31 years of legislative planning and analysis for the U.S. Social Security Administration.
Personal: The couple lives in Baltimore and has been together for more than 25 years. They enjoy being active in their community, entertaining in their Victorian home and traveling. This year, they visited Sicily in January, just returned from Russia and the Baltic States, and plan to go on an African safari in November.

Blackburn and Dehn say they have “nothing to lose” by being plaintiffs on the right-to-marry lawsuit. They have been together more than 25 years, and now are retired from their respective professions.

They are seeking the right to legally marry because increasingly they are concerned about their sunset years. While both men are healthy, involved in their communities and travel extensively, they worry about the possibility of being separated in a nursing home.

Even though they have powers of attorney for their health care, made wills, ...