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CNN Live Today

Gay Married Couple Testing Legal Waters

Aired February 24, 2004 - 11:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: And while President Bush is backing this constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, many couples say they're going to fight that move. One couple is back home in Maryland after traveling to San Francisco to get married.
And as two gay men, they are about to face some major legal challenges.

Our Elaine Quijano has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Packard and Irwin Gomez consider themselves an ordinary couple, living in the Maryland suburbs. And now, after a whirlwind San Francisco wedding, an ordinary married couple.

JAMES PACKARD, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER: We've made an agreement for life. We're a family unit. Whether or not people want to recognize it, we, too, are a family unit. And we have family values.

QUIJANO: Together for nine years, Packard, a real estate developer, and Gomez, a makeup artist, first got married six years ago in Amsterdam, but they longed for recognition in the U.S., and jumped at the chance in San Francisco.

PACKARD: We just wanted to get married.

IRWIN GOMEZ, MAKEUP ARTIST: We just wanted to get married, and I'm glad we're married. But I'm also glad that we can actually reach out to America.

QUIJANO: Reaching out by testing unchartered waters in their home state of Maryland. They plan to file joint tax returns and refile property titles in both their names, moves they believe will force federal and state government to decide whether to recognize their gay marriage.

They want the government to grant gay couples the same tax breaks and benefits given to heterosexual married couple.

PACKARD: If they don't put legislation in place to protect us, then they are going to find lawsuits filed all across this great land.

QUIJANO: Legal experts say because each state determines its definition of marriage, the complex issue will undoubtedly wind up in the courts. NANCY POLIKOFF, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW: My expectation is the decisions will be all over the place and that there's going to be a patchwork in the country of where these marriages are recognized and where they're not.

QUIJANO (on camera): Because of that expected lack of uniformity, experts also say the matter will likely take years before winding its way here to the Supreme Court.

(voice-over) It's a legal fight gay couples say is worth it.

PACKARD: It's all we're looking for, just to be treated equal.

QUIJANO: A right Packard and Gomez believe is protected under the Constitution.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 24, 2004 - 11:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: And while President Bush is backing this constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, many couples say they're going to fight that move. One couple is back home in Maryland after traveling to San Francisco to get married.
And as two gay men, they are about to face some major legal challenges.

Our Elaine Quijano has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Packard and Irwin Gomez consider themselves an ordinary couple, living in the Maryland suburbs. And now, after a whirlwind San Francisco wedding, an ordinary married couple.

JAMES PACKARD, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER: We've made an agreement for life. We're a family unit. Whether or not people want to recognize it, we, too, are a family unit. And we have family values.

QUIJANO: Together for nine years, Packard, a real estate developer, and Gomez, a makeup artist, first got married six years ago in Amsterdam, but they longed for recognition in the U.S., and jumped at the chance in San Francisco.

PACKARD: We just wanted to get married.

IRWIN GOMEZ, MAKEUP ARTIST: We just wanted to get married, and I'm glad we're married. But I'm also glad that we can actually reach out to America.

QUIJANO: Reaching out by testing unchartered waters in their home state of Maryland. They plan to file joint tax returns and refile property titles in both their names, moves they believe will force federal and state government to decide whether to recognize their gay marriage.

They want the government to grant gay couples the same tax breaks and benefits given to heterosexual married couple.

PACKARD: If they don't put legislation in place to protect us, then they are going to find lawsuits filed all across this great land.

QUIJANO: Legal experts say because each state determines its definition of marriage, the complex issue will undoubtedly wind up in the courts. NANCY POLIKOFF, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW: My expectation is the decisions will be all over the place and that there's going to be a patchwork in the country of where these marriages are recognized and where they're not.

QUIJANO (on camera): Because of that expected lack of uniformity, experts also say the matter will likely take years before winding its way here to the Supreme Court.

(voice-over) It's a legal fight gay couples say is worth it.

PACKARD: It's all we're looking for, just to be treated equal.

QUIJANO: A right Packard and Gomez believe is protected under the Constitution.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com