Arizona Equality - Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert

Official Website tracking the progress of the complaint
filed against the State of Arizona on January 6, 2014,
for Marriage Equality.

Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert

Joseph Connolly and Terry Pochert

Terry Pochert and Joe Connolly

Meet the Plaintiffs: Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert

Joe Connolly was born and raised in Munhall Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb. Terry Pochert was born and raised in the “thumb” of Michigan on the family farm near Port Hope Michigan. In 1995, Terry and Joe were introduced by mutual friends to each other. They met again later the summer of 1995 and began dating in August of 1995. Terry and Joe shared a common background in the news and information industry. Joe started out in the production department of a community newspaper, attended college for Printing and started his career with Gannett and USA Today, later working in and around the publishing industry. Terry started his career on the technical side of broadcasting at the ABC affiliate in Detroit, WXYZ-TV where he had spent last twenty-five years after working for Armed Forces Radio and Television in Thailand during his Air Force service during the Viet Nam era. Late in 1995, while dining in a restaurant, Joe said to Terry “If I could marry you, I would ask you right now!” Terry responded by handing Joe an onion ring. Joe reciprocated in kind. A silly gesture then,a very poignant gesure to them now.In the spring of 1996 they began living together. In 1997, Terry decided to retire from the television station to pursue entrepreneurial projects in the web consulting industry. After moving to Gilbert, AZ in 1997, they settled making Arizona their home. In 2004, they purchased wedding rings in Jerome, AZ with hope that could marry in their chosen home state of Arizona. In 2008, they took the opportunity to marry in California prior to the passing of the contentious Proposition 8 or “Prop Hate”. After the U. S. Supreme Court overturned DOMA and California’s Proposition 8, Terry and Joe turned to a fellow congregation member at a Christmas Advent church service, an attorney, in December of 2013 asking “Do you know anyone who would represent us in an effort to overturn the state’s ban on same sex marriage. That attorney, Shawn Aiken said “Let me get back to you on that!” Between Christmas of 2013 and New Year’s Day, January 1, 2014, Terry and Joe met with Shawn and started the process of filing a complaint. With the help of other social justice minded friends and colleagues, on January 6, 2014, four couples filed suit against the state to overturn the ban on same sex marriage. In the weeks that followed the initial filing, three other couples, two from Flagstaff and one couple from Tucson joined the lawsuit. (Learn more about the other plaintiffs on this website.) On February 10, 2014, an amended lawsuit was filed representing seven same sex couples, dropping Governor Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne as defendants in favor of the Clerk of Courts in Maricopa, Pinal and Coconino Counties responsible for issuing marriage licenses. Terry and Joe, along with their co-plaintiffs are looking forward to resolution later this year.

News Articles

References:

Same-Sex Marriage and Children is the first book to bring together historical, social science, and legal considerations to comprehensively respond to the objections to same-sex marriage that are based on the need to promote so-called "responsible procreation" and child welfare. Carlos A. Ball places the current marriage debates within a broader historical context by exploring how the procreative and child welfare claims used to try to deny same-sex couples the opportunity to marry are similar to earlier arguments used to defend interracial marriage bans, laws prohibiting disabled individuals from marrying, and the differential treatment of children born out of wedlock. Ball also draws a link between welfare reform and same-sex marriage bans by explaining how conservative proponents have defended both based on the need for the government to promote responsible procreation among heterosexuals.

In addition, Ball examines the social science studies relied on by opponents of same-sex marriage and explains in a highly engaging and accessible way why they do not support the contention that biological status and parental gender matter when it comes to parenting. He also explores the relevance of the social science studies on the children of lesbians and gay men to the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In doing so, the book looks closely at the gay marriage cases that recently reached the Supreme Court and explains why the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans cannot be defended on the basis that maintaining marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution helps to promote the best interests of children. Same-Sex Marriage and Children will help lawyers, law professors, judges, legislators, social and political scientists, historians, and child welfare officials-as well as general readers interested in matters related to marriage and families-understand the empirical and legal issues behind the intersection of same-sex marriage and children's welfare.

© 2014 Arizona Equality