A federal judge’s ruling that Ohio must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states is expected to open the door to a variety of issues, including bereavement leave, health-care decisions, taxes and survivor benefits. U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black said yesterday that “Ohio’s marriage recognition is facially unconstitutional and unenforceable under any circumstances.” Still, Ohio’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, approved by voters in 2004, stands for now. Although the case was filed over the question of whose name can be on a birth certificate, the judge’s wording hints at larger impacts. “When a state effectively terminates the marriage of a same-sex couple married in another jurisdiction by refusing to recognize the marriage, that state unlawfully intrudes into the realm of private marital, family and intimate relations specifically protected by the Supreme Court,” Black ruled. The federal judge temporarily stayed his decision to give attorneys for both sides a chance to file legal briefs. Attorney General Mike DeWine will appeal the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Columbus family-law attorney LeeAnn Massucci sees the ruling as “the first of many positive decisions for same-gender couples in Ohio.” “Bereavement, probate estate issues, health care — the marriage issue is going to give validity and legal access across the board. All the dominoes are going to fall. ... I’d like to think it would be a year, but it may be two or three years.” Massucci said she has about 15 or 20 same-gender couples prepared to file adoption papers with both parents’ names on the birth certificate. Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal in New York, a legal firm co-representing the four couples who brought the lawsuit, said the decision could have an impact “ any way that your marriage is meaningful under state law: tax purposes, spousal privileges against testimony, family medical leave ... anything involving decision-making authority.” Phil Burress, chairman of Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group that spearheaded the 2004 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, called the ruling “shockingly intolerant” and predicted it would be overturned. “It’s an example of homosexual activists using sympathetic judges and the courts as a blunt instrument to force a redefinition of marriage and family on the people of Ohio,” he said. Cincinnati attorney Al Gerhardstein, lead counsel representing the couples in the case, called the ruling “a great day for many Ohio families. Yesterday, they lived in a state that discriminated against them; today they live in a state that has declared them equal.” Although gay-marriage advocates were happy with Black’s ruling, the stay thwarted what many had hoped would be a flurry of adoption-petition filings. “I wish I could hit the button,” said Carol Fey, a Bexley attorney who was prepared to electronically send documents to Franklin County Probate Court. The cases are both personal and professional; Fey had been set to file on behalf of clients as well as her own family. Black’s ruling could finally allow Fey and her wife, Joan Wurmbrand, to become legal parents to the children they have raised together as a family. Fey adopted the couple’s 19-year-old daughter; Wurmbrand adopted their 20-year-old son. FreedomOhio Executive Director Ian James called the decision a “landmark decision for Ohio’s LGBT families because it proves that the Ohio Constitution exists to protect the rights of all Americans.” Michael Premo of Why Marriage Matters Ohio said, “This ruling is about love, stability and family; and it is a victory for the families that have been denied equality under the law.” Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said, “The governor believes marriage is between a man and a woman. He supported the constitutional amendment in Ohio, and we are glad that the attorney general has said he is going to appeal.” Ed FitzGerald, Kasich’s likely Democratic opponent, said the ruling “begins to open the door to full marriage equality in Ohio, and I look forward to the day when Ohioans who love one another do not have to leave the state to get married.” In a related development yesterday, DeWine certified that the Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment can move forward with revised language to gather petition signatures for a statewide ballot issue, likely in 2016, to overturn Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban.
News Source:www.dispatch.com
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