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A lesbian couple residing in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday that would force the state to recognize their out-of-state marriage, allowing both women to be legal parents to their 8-year-old son.

The couple’s suit contends that Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage, as well as their refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from another state violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs, Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand, have been in a relationship for more than 14 years, and they have lived in Mobile since 2001. In 2008, they traveled to California to be married there after winning a contest run by the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

McKeand gave birth to a son, Khaya, in 2005. He was conceived with the help of a sperm donor. However, the couple’s bid to have Searcy declared Khaya’s adoptive parent was rejected in the state court system because Alabama does not recognize the couple as spouses.

“I am a parent in every way to our son, but legally I am still considered a stranger,” said Searcy. “We just want our son to have the same protections and securities as other Alabama families.”

“As attorney general, I will vigorously defend the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman,” Strange said. “That has been the definition of marriage for the history of western civilization, and Alabamians overwhelmingly voted to incorporate it into our laws.”

Alabama is one of 30 states that have passed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Alabama’s amendment further states specifies that the state will not recognize any same-sex marriage performed in any other jurisdiction.

David Kennedy, an attorney for the couple, said the result of the law is that Khaya, although he was raised since birth in a two-parent family, “is not allowed the same legal benefits and protections that any other child would receive in Alabama because he has two moms.”

The lawsuit is one of the most recent in a nationwide groundswell of lawsuits that have been filed on behalf of gay and lesbian couples in the 33 states which do not allow same-sex marriage. Advocacy groups say that more than 70 lawsuits are currently pending, including several in which federal judges have struck down state bans.