Georgia Court of Appeals Hesitant 
to Recognize Civil Union

— October 12, 2001

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals heard arguments in Darian Burns v. Susan Burns, a child visitation case involving the recognition of a Vermont civil union as a Georgia marriage. Despite protestations to the contrary, it has been clear from the outset that Ms. Burns and her lesbian partner have only a political agenda to advance in this case. With a wide variety of arguments available to him, Ms. Burns' and her attorney have relentlessly centered her claim around the question of whether her civil union qualifies as a "legal marriage" under the terms of a visitation agreement entered into by the parties three years ago. Even more striking, during much of that period of time Ms. Burns has made little or no effort to even contact her three children, who are living with their father.

At Wednesday's arguments, the justices appeared reticent to rewrite Georgia law in order to accommodate Ms. Burns' claims about her civil union. As one justice pointed out, Georgia law prohibits couples from traveling out of state in order to circumvent Georgia marriage law. Another justice reminded Ms. Burns' attorney that the Georgia Defense of Marriage Act prohibits recognition of same-sex unions. Although Ms. Burns' attorney maintained that the Georgia DOMA is unconstitutional because of the Georgia right of privacy, Mathew Staver, attorney for Mr. Burns, explained to the Court that the right to privacy does not require public recognition of same-sex "marriage." Mr. Staver went on to point out that even under Vermont law, a civil union is not a "legal marriage," and that it is thus inappropriate for Georgia to recognize it as such. By analogy, Mr. Staver later explained to reporters that recognizing a Vermont civil union as a Georgia marriage would be comparable to treating a Vermont drivers' license as a pilot's license in Georgia.

A decision in the case will be issued before the end of the court's term in April 2002.