Thursday, December 26, 2013

Same-sex marriage, Indiana and the legal deluge.

In which the Hoosier state's conservative cadres are on their heels, wagons circling.

Indiana Finds It’s Not So Easy to Buck Gay Marriage Trend, by Monica Davey (NYT)

... So suddenly Indiana, where lawmakers in the coming weeks are expected to call for the second vote needed to put a ban before voters in the fall elections, is now in a far more tense, unpredictable and closely watched spot than anyone here had imagined — a test case in whether a state will impose new limits on same-sex marriage in this fast-moving political and legal environment.

It's a fine seasonal gift, isn't it?

online/blogs/comment/2013/12/same-sex-marriage-the-legal-deluge.html">SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, THE LEGAL DELUGE, by Jeffrey Toobin (New Yorker)

... Then, on Monday, two days before Christmas, a federal court in Ohio issued a lower-profile decision that may have been the most important of all. James Obergefell and John Arthur, who lived together in Cincinnati, married in Maryland at a time when Arthur was gravely ill. In anticipation of Arthur’s death, the couple petitioned the state of Ohio for Arthur to be listed as “married” on his Ohio death certificate, and to record Obergefell as the “surviving spouse.” Ohio, which does not allow same-sex marriages, refused, but federal judge Timothy S. Black ruled against the state and in favor of the couple. The judge said it was “not a complicated case.” Throughout Ohio’s history, Ohio has treated marriages solemnized out of state as valid in Ohio. “How then can Ohio, especially given the historical status of Ohio law, single out same-sex marriage as ones it will not recognize?” Black asked in his opinion. “The short answer is Ohio cannot.”

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