New Virginia Gay Marriage Ban Lawsuit Seeks Class Action Status

ivil liberties and gay-rights groups are challenging Virginia's same-sex marriage ban in court.

The ACLU of Virginia and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Harrisonburg. Two couples, one from Staunton and one from Winchester, are plaintiffs.

Virginia voters in 2006 approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and denying recognition of such marriages sanctioned by other states.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to married gay couples. The justices also left intact a lower court ruling overturning California's gay marriage ban. That decision was based on a legal technicality and did not address the law's constitutionality.

A Norfolk couple already is challenging Virginia's gay marriage ban in another federal lawsuit.