‘Family man’ tries to overturn Wis. gay marriage ban
Wants state to vote on marriage, civil unions as separate questions
Few people took Bill McConkey seriously when he filed a lawsuit in July trying to overturn Wisconsin’s new ban on gay marriage and civil unions.
The relatively unknown University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor was acting as his own lawyer and didn’t have the backing of the state’s major gay rights group.
But his challenge to the amendment — approved by 59 percent of voters last year — has picked up steam in recent weeks.
A Dane County judge ruled the lawsuit can go forward on grounds that McConkey was harmed as a voter by the wording of the question. McConkey claims the referendum illegally asked two questions in one — whether to ban gay marriage and whether to ban civil unions — and he wants the state to vote on each question.
So, who is this guy and why is he doing this?
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the 65-year-old Baileys Harbor man talked about his motivation for filing the lawsuit and why his own cousin believes he’s going to hell.
Q: You’ve described yourself as a Christian, straight, married, father of seven. You’re kind of an unlikely figure to be leading the charge on gay rights.
A: I’ve also been a Republican all my life, and people have said, that’s certainly a conflict but I don’t think so. The reason I don’t is because it’s consistent with my view of human dignity and human rights as opposed to government and the power of government. This is really an overreaching amendment.
Q: What was your motivation to file suit?
A: I thought it was horrible when it first came out, because of the implication of the precedent that it sets. If you don’t like gay people, who’s next? Short people? Or maybe we can go back to black people or to Jews or something. As a student of history and as an educated person, I know the history and the implications of that mind-set. It began with that. I also have a gay daughter. People have asked me, would you have filed this suit if it wasn’t for your daughter? To be real honest, maybe not. Maybe I would have just ranted and raved in my classrooms and written letters to the editor and fumed off to the side. But because of her, it also became a personal issue and I feel like I’m fighting for my kid. I’m a family man above all.
Q: What does your daughter think about your legal challenge?
A: She tells me that she’s really proud of me. And I’m glad she is. She did not ask me to do this. As a matter of fact, there was some trepidation on her part because we do have the same last name and worried she would be singled out for difficulty. We talked about that, and she decided it was worth the risk.
Q: How have your neighbors and your acquaintances reacted?
A: My friends and other associates have been extremely supportive. I have a cousin that is violently opposed. I’ve had to put him on my spam list. He’s a member of the extreme religious right and he’s convinced that I’m going to hell.
Q: What remedy would you like to see if your suit is successful? Do you want gay marriage to be legal or do you simply want another vote on two separate questions?
A: That is one that I struggle with. I think ultimately I would say under the U.S. Constitution, the way it’s written, we cannot constitutionally deny the right of gay people to be married. Neither can the government order a church and say you have to marry gay people. That’s an important difference to me. With that caveat, I would say I think that gay marriage should be allowed. It makes me kind of uncomfortable when I say that because I’ve been raised differently. But that’s where I’ve come after prayer and after thought _ a great deal of hard thought _ there is no constitutional way to do that.
But here in Wisconsin right now, I’m adamant about having at least another vote. The Republicans in the Legislature lumped those two questions together for strictly political purposes and it just annoys me to no end.
Q: Do you think that voters might have outlawed gay marriage but allowed civil unions if there were two separate questions?
A: Absolutely. And there are dozens of scientifically based survey research instruments floating around the state, taken at the time, that said that.
Q: You’ve said you wanted to file the lawsuit before the referendum but Mike Tate, who ran the campaign against the amendment for Fair Wisconsin, talked you out of it. What did he say?
A: He said, what will happen if you file this suit is you will lose and the court will say things in their decision that will harm our case even more. Well, losing didn’t bother me because I would have appealed anyway. But I didn’t want to harm their case. And that could have happened. A judge could have gone on to say awful things.
Q: You teach political behavior. Why do you think 59 percent of the public supported the amendment?
A: The idea of two men standing there getting married, it just doesn’t sit well with people. And the conservative churches turned out well and did their thing.
Q: You were acting as your own lawyer, but now high-profile Madison lawyer Lester Pines has taken the case. How did that come about?
A: He sent an e-mail and volunteered. I gratefully accepted. He certainly has a wonderful reputation and seems to be quite skilled.
Q: Is Fair Wisconsin bankrolling the suit?
A: I can tell you, I’m not paying anything. I couldn’t. After putting six kids through college and paying for six weddings, I don’t have any money. … I really have no idea who is helping with the financial requirements of this lawsuit. I didn’t ask him, and I don’t need to know.
Source: washblade.com