Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Today Liberty Counsel attorneys intervened in a case to protect Florida’s definition of marriage from yesterday's court challenge by same-sex couples who want state-approved marriage licenses. Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm that is actively involved in defending the traditional family, intervened on behalf of itself, Florida county clerk Cody Taylor and other Florida county clerks who will be affected by the lawsuit.

Liberty Counsel’s President and General Counsel Mathew Staver drafted the Florida Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), which was proposed in 1996, and passed in 1997 by the Florida Legislature. The DOMA states: “Marriages between persons of the same sex entered into in any jurisdiction, whether within or outside the State of Florida, the United States, or any other jurisdiction, either domestic or foreign, or any other place or location, or relationships between persons of the same sex which are treated as marriages in any jurisdiction, whether within or outside the State of Florida, the United States, or any other jurisdiction, either domestic or foreign, or any other place or location, are not recognized for any purpose in this state.” In addition to DOMA, Florida law also defines marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife ....”

Liberty Counsel works with legislators around the country in drafting and enacting DOMAs; and has defended DOMA’s and other marriage laws. Liberty Counsel successfully defended the first-ever challenge to a state DOMA in the Georgia case of Burns v. Burns. The court in Burns ruled that (1) a Vermont civil union is not marriage, (2) that even if it was, the Georgia DOMA bans same-sex marriage, and (3) the federal DOMA allows a state to ban same-sex marriage. Liberty Counsel was also successful in similar litigation in Connecticut, and is currently handling the case of Thomasson v. Davis, a case in California, defending the rights of the voters to limit marriage to one man and woman, and is also the lead firm in Thomasson v. Newsom -- attacking San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s illegal actions in issuing “same-sex marriage licenses.

Staver said, “Not only law but common sense itself makes evident the fact that the state of Florida has a profound interest in preserving marriage between one man and one woman to the exclusion of any other arrangement. Marriage between a man and a woman forms the basis of our social structure. Proponents of same-sex marriage are intent on radically redefining marriage and destroying the institution. Suits like these will fuel the drive to pass a federal constitutional amendment to once and for all time preserve marriage as one man and one woman.”

Liberty Counsel is a national public interest law firm dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. On the campus of Liberty University School of Law, Liberty Counsel’s Center for Constitutional Litigation and Policy trains attorneys, law students, policy-makers, legislators, clergy and world leaders in constitutional principles and government policies.