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STATE OF NEW YORK
SUPREME COURT: COUNTY OF TOMPKINS
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JASON SEYMOUR, JASON HUNGERFORD,
SUSAN MARTIN, KRISTINE SHAW, MARGOT
CHIUTEN, SHAWNA BLACK, JAMES PELTON,
JASON THORNTON, PATRICIA FLERY,
ELIZABETH COHEN, PATRICIA BUTLER,
MARJORIE PARKER, SANDRA FENTIMAN,
ALICE KENLY, TODD HERON, RONALD
CAMPBELL, LISA BUSHLOW, NINA PANZER,
TERESA NIEDZIALEK, NANCY CHAPMAN,
ANNE BELL, ELISABETH LINDSAY, BRENDA
MARSTON, SARAH SIMPKINS, JOHN HOUSTON,
DAVE HEBRON, DEBORAH VOGEL, SILVIA
GARCIA, CARLA CARICK, LAURIE KOEHLER,
LAWRENCE ROBERTS, OSCAR HAARSTAD,
KIM TRAHAN, CHRISTINA KNICKERBOCKER,
LEE WILLIAMS, BETH DIPASQUA, NANCY
GABRIEL, MARION DAGROSSA, JOSEPH
WHEELER, DAVID BIDDLE, SUZANNE
SCHWARTZ, MARY WHITE, RODNEY
FAIRBANKS, BRENT WANDEL, AMELIA
SAUTER, LEAH HOUGHTALING, MARTHA
HARDESTY, JOANN EDWARDS, SARAH B.
JEFFERIS, and TAMMY J. TRAVIS,
Plaintiffs, COMPLAINT
-against- Index # 2004-
JULIE HOLCOMB as CITY CLERK of the
CITY OF ITHACA; CITY OF ITHACA; and
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH,
Defendants.
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Plaintiffs, by and through their attorneys, Bixler and Stumbar, LLP and Mariette Geldenhuys, as
and for their complaint herein, allege as follows:
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THE PARTIES
1. The twenty-five couples who are plaintiffs in this action represent the same diversity of ages, jobs
and educational background as any twenty-five randomly selected heterosexual couples. They are,
for example, teachers, attorneys, social workers, librarians, nurses, business people, students and
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stay-at-home moms. The difference is that these couples are being denied basic civil rihts
afforded to married couples in New York.
2. Plaintiffs Jason Seymour and Jason Hungerford are in their twenties and have been together since
1998. Both are employed in the technology field.
3. Plaintiffs Susan Martin and Kristine Shaw are the parents of two children, ages 13 and 11. They
have been together for approximately eight years. Susan is a psychologist and Kristine is an
attorney.
4. Plaintiffs Margot Chiuten and Shawna Black are in their twenties and have been together for more
than seven years. They own a home together and plan on having children. Margot is a landscape
architect and Shawna works for Alterra Healthcare.
5. Plaintiffs James Pelton and Jason Thornton have been together for more than six years. James has
degrees in electronics engineering and computer science. Jason is studying graphic design and
computer graphics.
6. Plaintiffs Patricia Flery and Elizabeth Cohen have been together for seven years and have a three-
year-old daughter. Patricia is an educator and counselor, and Elizabeth works as a school social
worker.
7. Plaintiffs Patricia Butler and Marjorie Parker have been together for seven years. Patricia is a
registered nurse and Marjorie is a medical social worker.
8. Plaintiffs Sandra Fentiman and Alice Kenly each have grown children. They have been together
since 1998.
9. Plaintiffs Todd Heron and Ronald Campbell have been together for 24 years. Todd is employed
by the Ithaca Bakery and Ronald is employed at Alternatives Federal Credit Union.
10. Plaintiffs Lisa Bushlow and Nina Panzer have been together for more than six years and have a
two-year-old son. Lisa is employed at the Hangar Theatre. Nina is a full-time mother and part-
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time college instructor.
11. Plaintiffs Teresa Niedzialek and Nancy Chapman have been together for five years. They are both
employed by Wegmans Food Markets.
12. Plaintiffs Anne Bell and Elisabeth Lindsay have been together since 2001. Anne is the mother of
two grown children and is a high school librarian. Elisabeth is a registered nurse. They own two
homes together.
13. Plaintiffs Brenda Marston and Sarah Simpkins are the parents of a four-year-old son. They have
been together for 13 years and have owned a home together since 1993. Brenda is an archivist and
academic librarian at Cornell University. Sarah is an assistant dean at Cornell University.
14. Plaintiffs John Houston and Dave Hebron have been together for six years. Both John and Dave
are employed in the food service industry.
15. Plaintiffs Deborah Vogel and Silvia Garcia are both 50 years old and have been together for 15
years. They describe themselves as an “average American couple.” They pay taxes, volunteer in
their community and are planning for their retirement together.
16. Plaintiffs Carla Carick and Laurie Koehler have been together 10 years and have raised Carla’s
birth son together since he was eleven years old.. He is now twenty-one and a sophomore at the
University of Virginia, which is where both of his moms went to school. He is totally supportive
of his moms’ getting married to each other.
17. Plaintiffs Lawrence Roberts & Oscar Haarstad have been together for over 17 years. This couple
has done much for their community. Oscar (“Ross”) co-founded AIDS Work, a local organization
dealing with AIDS related issues and Larry is the program director for the Finger Lakes
Independence Center and chairs the City of Ithaca Disability Advisory Board.
18. Plaintiffs Kim Trahan and Christina Knickerbocker have been together for ten years. One is a
physician’s assistant and the other is employed at Binghamton University.
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19. Plaintiffs Lee Williams and Beth DiPasqua are in their twenties and have been together 2 ½ years.
Lee is working towards her bachelor’s degree and Beth works in a pet store.
20. Plaintiffs Nancy Gabriel and Marion DaGrossa are in their sixties and both have retired from
teaching. They are the mothers of five children and four grandchildren and have been together
more than eleven years. They are Quakers and long time members of the Ithaca Meeting of the
Religious Society of Friends.
21. Plaintiffs Joseph Wheeler and David Biddle have been together for 2 ½ years. Joseph is an
attorney at a prestigious law firm in Elmira and David is a PhD. candidate in mathematics at
Cornell University.
22. Plaintiffs Suzanne Schwartz and Mary White have been together for over six years and are
registered as Domestic Partners at Cornell University.
23. Plaintiffs Rodney Fairbanks and Brent Wandel have been together two years, Brent having moved
from Michigan to be with his partner. Brent is currently a student and Rodney has worked for the
United States Postal Service for over nine years.
24. Plaintiffs Amelia Sauter and Leah Houghtaling have been together for eight years and co-own
their house and their car. Amelia is a social worker and Beth is a business manager.
25. Plaintiffs Martha Hardesty and Joann Edwards have been together for 5 ½ years and co-parent two
of Joann’s children. Martha is a teacher and Joann is a nurse.
26. Plaintiffs Sarah B. Jefferis and Tammy J. Travis have been registered as domestic partners in the
City of Ithaca since 2000. Sarah is an assistant professor of English and Writing at Ithaca College
and Tammy is the owner and chef of a local Patisserie.
27. Defendant City of Ithaca (hereafter referred to as “the City”) is a municipal corporation with
offices at City Hall, 108 East Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
28. Defendant Julie Holcomb (hereafter referred to as “the City Clerk”) is the City Clerk of the City of
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Ithaca, County of Tompkins, State of New York. The City Clerk is responsible for receiving and
acting upon marriage license applications on behalf of the City of Ithaca.
29. The City Clerk received applications for marriage licenses from the plaintiffs and refused to issue
such licenses.
30. Defendant New York State Department of Health (hereafter “DOH”) is charged with
administering the law governing marriage in the State of New York. DOH directed city and town
clerks in New York State not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples seeking to marry.
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VENUE AND JURISDICTION
31. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to CPLR §301.
32. Venue is proper in Tompkins County pursuant to CPLR §504 because defendants include the City
of Ithaca, which is situated in Tompkins County.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
33. This action arises out of the City of Ithaca’s City Clerk’s unconstitutional refusal, under
instructions from the New York State Department of Health, to issue marriage licenses to the
plaintiffs solely because each plaintiff is gay or lesbian and seeks to marry an individual of the
same sex.
34. The Plaintiffs in this action are committed couples who intend to spend their lives together and
who want to assume the responsibilities of marriage and to avail themselves of the myriad of
benefits conferred by the marital contract.
35. The right to marry is one of the deeply personal privacy interests protected by the due process
clause of the New York State Constitution, Art. I, Section 6. The exclusion of Plaintiffs and other
same-sex couples from legal marriage violates this fundamental right.
36. The right to equal protection of the laws under the New York State Constitution, Art. I, Section
11, also prohibits the State’s discriminatory marriage scheme, which, by drawing impermissible
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distinctions based on gender and sexual orientation, leaves all same-sex couples without access to
this extraordinarily significant legal institution.
37. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that New York’s Domestic Relations Law is unconstitutional insofar
as it denies the right to marry to same-sex couples and an injunction requiring Defendants to grant
them marriage licenses and access to civil marriage on the same terms and conditions available to
different-sex couples.
38. Except for the fact that they are of the same sex, plaintiffs are legally qualified to marry under the
laws of New York.
39. During the winter and spring of 2004, each plaintiff couple identified hereinabove appeared in
person and applied for a marriage license by completing an application at the Office of the City
Clerk of the City of Ithaca.
40. After completing the marriage application and filing it with the City Clerk of the City of Ithaca,
each plaintiff couple was notified by the City of Ithaca as follows:
“The New York State Department of Health has advised that the issuance of a marriage
license to same-sex couples violates New York Law and would subject any municipal
clerk who issues such a license to criminal prosecution and penalties.
Accordingly, I am constrained to reject your recent application for a marriage license.”
41. The aforementioned letter of rejection was signed by the defendant Julie Conley Holcomb as the
City Clerk and by Martin A. Luster as the City Attorney for the City of Ithaca.
42. The plaintiff couples bringing this action continue in their desire to be married in the State of New
York to participate fully in an institution that plays a central role in our society.
43. By denying Plaintiffs access to marriage, New York State law forbids them from making the legal
commitment to one another that marriage entails and deprives them of the comprehensive legal
structure for couples that marriage provides.
44. Plaintiffs are harmed by their exclusion from a broad array of statutory protections, benefits, and
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mutual responsibilities afforded by New York’s marriage law. In addition, because many private
parties rely on the State’s conferral of marriage and the definition of a “spouse,” plaintiffs suffer
deprivation of certain privately conferred benefits and protections, and from lack of appropriate
recognition and respect for their relationship in their neighborhood, workplace and in other areas
of their everyday lives.
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FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
45. Plaintiffs reallege and incorporate by reference each and every allegation contained in the
preceding paragraphs as if set forth fully herein.
46. Article I, section 6 of New York State’s Constitution provides that “no person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” Among the personal interests protected by
the New York State Constitution’s due process clause is the right to privacy, which includes one’s
ability to make intimate choices of a deeply personal nature, including whom to marry.
47. The State’s statutory framework for marriage precludes two individuals of the same sex from
exercising the right to marry each other, interfering with a core personal choice.
48. The State’s statutory framework for marriage, insofar as it bars Plaintiffs from marriage because
they wish to marry a partner of the same sex, violates the State constitutional right of due process.
AS AND FOR A SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
49. Plaintiffs reallege and incorporate by reference each and every allegation contained in paragraphs
one through forty-nine as if set forth fully herein.
50. The State’s statutory framework for marriage discriminates against individuals in same-sex
relationships because they wish to marry a life partner of the same sex, allowing access to
marriage only for different-sex couples.
51. The State’s statutory framework for marriage, insofar as it discriminates against Plaintiffs and the
other same-sex couples by drawing impermissible distinctions based on gender and sexual
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orientation, violates the equal protection clause of the New York State Constitution, Art. 1 section
11.
WHEREFORE, plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court grant the following relief:
A) Declare, based on the rights to privacy and equal protection under the New York State
Constitution, the Plaintiffs’ rights to marry and to equality have been violated, and that they are
constitutionally entitled to treatment by Defendants equal to the treatment of different-sex couples
regarding access to marriage and to the rights that flow from marriage.
B) Direct Defendants to grant marriage licenses to Plaintiffs and otherwise to infringe no longer upon
Plaintiffs’ right to marry, and to treat Plaintiffs no differently than different-sex couples regarding
access to marriage.
C) Grant Plaintiffs such further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
Dated: May ______, 2004 ____________________________________
Bixler & Stumbar, LLP
Attorneys for Plaintiffs XYZ
207 East Court Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Tel. (607) 273-6300
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_____________________________________
Mariette Geldenhuys, Attorney at Law
Attorney for Plaintiffs ABC
The Gateway Center
401 East State Street, Suite 306
Ithaca, New York 14850
Tel. (607) 273-2272
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