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 gesture 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 to make 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
- Suit Filed to Allow Same-Sex Marriages in Arizona – ABC 15, Phoenix
- Meet Arizona Families: Joe Connolly and Terry Pochert
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