Next Stage in Marriage Equality
Arent Fox partner Hunter Carter is fighting for marriage equality in the Americas. Yesterday we caught up with him to talk about his most recent filing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
"Every moment, you're being deprived of your human rights," says Hunter of couples not being allowed to marry, and "getting it five years from now doesn't make up for it." He's a fluent Spanish-speaker (impressively self-taught) who's worked on cases for marriage equality in the US, Chile, Colombia, and now Mexico. The Mexican couple whose case was just filed before the IACHR in DC have a pressing need: one member has HIV and needs treatment. Because they're not married, he doesn't have access to his partner's medical benefits. The Mexican constitution and American Convention on Human Rights both prohibit discrimination on sexual orientation.
We snapped Hunter pointing out the Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas in his office. In addition to filings from Mexico and Chile before the IACHR, Hunter's working on two vital cases before Colombia's Constitutional Court, on second-parent adoption and the right to get married. He points out that the best-prepared opponents to marriage equality in the US couldn't come up with valid arguments against it, judging by the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell; DOMA and Prop 8 cases; and the many judges who've overturned same-sex marriage bans (it's legal in 19 states and DC). In the US, we should hear from the Fourth and 10th Circuits within weeks, and the Ninth and Sixth Circuits shortly after that. (So get your ruling viewing party invites in the mail.)
These matters have a personal element for Hunter, whose husband is Colombian. The two own a residence there. Hunter says he's been involved in the legal fight for marriage equality since around '07, though before that he was involved in other ways, including as the GC for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, a DC community health center specializing in HIV/AIDS care. The clinic honored him with this award, which he calls one of the most meaningful items in his office. On marriage equality, he says the pendulum that's swinging to its completion in the US will be followed by Latin America.
