Federal Judge Orders Ohio to Recognize Gay Couple's Marriage [View all]

Source: The Advocate

A federal judge ordered Ohio state officials Monday to recognize a gay couple's marriage performed in Maryland last week, clearing the way for the men to be listed as married on the terminally ill husband's death certificate, according to Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed.

"The end result here and now is that the local Ohio Registrar of death certificates is hereby ORDERED not to accept for recording a death certificate for John Arthur that does not record Mr. Arthur’s status at death as 'married' and James Obergefell as his ‘surviving spouse,'" wrote U.S. District Magistrate Timothy Black Monday, according to the ruling published at BuzzFeed.

Arthur and Obergefell have been together for more than 20 years, and on July 11, the Cincinnati-based couple took a specially equipped medical jet to marry on the tarmac of Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Ohio still bans same-sex marriage, but the couple couldn't wait for the law to change, because Arthur suffers from advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurological disease. Arthur was diagnosed with ALS 26 months ago, and is "certain to die soon," according to the judge's ruling declaring the couple legally wed.

The couple filed suit against Ohio Gov. John Kasich in his official capacity Friday, also naming Ohio attorney general Mike Dewine and the Cincinnati doctor responsible for approving death certificates as defendants, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The judge's ruling will allow the couple to be buried alongside one another on Arthur's family plot, since Arthur's grandfather legally stipulated that only immediate family and their spouses can be buried on the family plot at Spring Grove Cemetery.


Read more: http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2013/07/22/federal-judge-orders-ohio-recognize-gay-couples-marriage