The First Lawsuit Challenging Georgia's Gay Marriage Ban has been Filed

Shelton Stroman and Chris Inniss

This is so good!

Lambda Legal has filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven people to challenge the state of Georgia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

Back in 2004, the state ban overwhelmingly passed, but now folks want to destroy the ban and move forward for marriage equality.

ABC News reports

Shelton Stroman and Chris Inniss, a suburban Atlanta couple, are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Tuesday. They've been together for about 13 years, own a pet boarding and daycare business together and adopted their 9-year-old son, Jonathan, as an infant.

"We just want to make sure that other families like ours are treated just like everyone else's family," Stroman told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "It's really hurtful and offensive that the state of Georgia is refusing to treat our families fairly."

Gay marriage is legal in 17 states and the District of Columbia, and Stroman and Inniss have considered going to one of those spots to get married. But they said they're frustrated that their union would have no legal standing in Georgia, and they still wouldn't have the state legal benefits of marriage.

I am loving this because a Black couple is a part this battle in the South. As this progresses, I hope their faces continues the evolving views of Black folks in the South.

read the filing here