CINCINNATI (AP) — Four legally married gay couples filed a
federal civil rights lawsuit Monday seeking a court order to force Ohio
to recognize same-sex marriages on birth certificates despite a
statewide ban, echoing arguments in a similar successful lawsuit
concerning death certificates.
The couples filed the suit in
federal court in Cincinnati, arguing that the state’s practice of
listing only one partner in a gay marriage as a parent on birth
certificates violates the U.S. Constitution.
The plaintiffs
include three lesbian couples living in the Cincinnati area who were
recently married in states that have legalized gay marriage. One woman
in each of those marriages is pregnant through artificial insemination,
and their babies all are due to be born this summer in Cincinnati
hospitals.
The fourth couple lives in New York, where gay marriage is legal, and last year adopted a boy who was
born in Ohio.
The
couples’ attorney is the same one who represented two gay married
couples in their lawsuit last year that successfully sought a court
order forcing Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages on death
certificates. The state is appealing the ruling, issued in December by
federal Judge Timothy Black.
"At both ends of our lifespans, a
marriage is a marriage," said Cincinnati civil rights attorney Al
Gerhardstein. "Ohio must recognize same-sex marriages and the families
founded on those marriages throughout life."
A spokesman for Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office will fight the lawsuit, did
not immediately respond to a request for comment about the latest
lawsuit.
Previously, DeWine has said he has a duty to defend
Ohio’s constitution and statutes, including the statewide ban on gay
marriage, passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2004.
Gay marriage supporters say they have collected enough signatures to put the issue back on the Ohio
ballot in November.
Monday’s
lawsuit seeks to build on the success of last year’s lawsuit seeking to
have gay marriage recognized on death certificates.
In that case,
Black ruled that Ohio’s ban on gay marriage demeans "the dignity of
same-sex couples in the eyes of the state and the wider community."
"Once
you get married lawfully in one state, another state cannot summarily
take your marriage away," Black wrote, saying the right to remain
married is recognized as a fundamental liberty in the U.S. Constitution.
Black
also referenced Ohio’s historical practice of recognizing other
out-of-state marriages even though they can’t legally be performed in
Ohio, such as those involving cousins or minors.
Two federal
judges have reached the same conclusions as Black, though they went much
further in their rulings. Judges in Oklahoma and Utah both recently
struck down gay marriage bans in the deeply conservative states. Those
rulings are being appealed.
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