Same-Sex-Marriage Supporters Applaud Ohio and Utah Rulings
Published: December 23, 2013 - New York Times
DENVER — In decisions that supporters of same-sex
marriage hailed as two important legal victories, a federal judge in Utah
allowed hundreds of gay couples to continue exchanging vows on Monday, while a
federal judge in Ohio invalidated part of that state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
In Salt Lake City, gay couples who had been nervously
lining up intending to marry let out a cheer when they learned that Judge Robert
J. Shelby had refused a request by state officials to halt the nuptials. State
leaders say the same-sex marriages should be suspended as the legal battle heads
to a higher court.
The same-sex weddings began in a joyful chaos on
Friday afternoon after Judge Shelby declared that the ban that Utah voters
approved in 2004 violated the United States Constitution. While many gay-rights
advocates expected a favorable ruling from Judge Shelby, an appointee of
President Obama, the timing caught many gay couples off-guard. About 100
same-sex couples got marriage licenses on Friday night, but hundreds more were
turned away as county clerks went home for the weekend.
On Monday morning, hundreds of same-sex couples
arrived at county courthouses and government buildings across the state,
paperwork in hand and witnesses at their side, in an anxious race against the
legal system. State officials filed a notice of appeal, and had asked Judge
Shelby and a higher court to delay the decision until the case could be
resolved.
Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, said the flurry of
new marriages and unresolved legal questions — lawyers on both sides said the
case was likely to reach the United States Supreme Court — had created “a lot of
chaos” in Utah. He condemned the ruling as an activist judge’s attack on a
definition of traditional marriage that was supported by a wide majority of Utah
residents.
And state officials said in legal papers that a “cloud
of uncertainty” now hung over hundreds of new same-sex marriages. The state has
argued that these unions could be voided if Utah successfully argues that it has
the right to limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
“This uncertainty is creating a lot of problems for us
not only with the conflicting laws in the state of Utah, but what the clerks
should be doing, what the tax laws are going to be,” Mr. Herbert said at a news
conference. “A stay would be appropriate until we finally have resolution.”
But on Monday, Judge Shelby rejected the state’s
arguments, saying all Utah residents had a “fundamental right” to get married.
By the end of the day, Salt Lake County issued about 325 marriage licenses,
adding to the 124 issued on Friday afternoon.
Dozens of gay couples were married in other county
offices across the state. But according to interviews and news reports,
officials in several more conservative counties said they would not marry any
same-sex couples until receiving guidance from the United States Court of
Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, where the legal case is headed next.
In Ohio, Judge Timothy S. Black of Federal District
Court ruled in the case of two couples who had married in states where same-sex
unions are legal before the death of one of the spouses. Their survivors sought
to be recognized as widowers on the Ohio death certificates.
In ordering that death certificates reflect their
marital status, the judge cited the June decision by the Supreme Court that a
federal law denying recognition of valid same-sex marriages was a denial of the
Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The Ohio judge noted that besides
the dignity of the surviving spouse, his ruling gave a same-sex widow or widower
rights under state law to favorable treatment in life insurance payouts,
survivors’ benefits and real estate transfers.
A spokeswoman for Ohio’s attorney general, Mike
DeWine, said he would appeal the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals
for the Sixth Circuit.
The Ohio decision did not go as far as the ruling in
Utah, but experts said both were among federal cases around the country likely
to return the issue of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court.
“Utah and Ohio are going to be the beginning of
decisions from federal courts that many think are going to rule that state
marriage provisions violate the federal Constitution,” said James D. Esseks,
director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s challenge to same-sex marriage
bans, who was not involved in the Utah or Ohio case.
In Salt Lake City, same-sex couples lined up outside
government offices like Black Friday shoppers, bundled up with sleeping bags,
hand warmers and down jackets against the snow and wind. They huddled together
with hot tea and coffee, ducking into running cars to warm up before reclaiming
their spot in line.
“We’re just waiting with bated breath,” said Amy
Wilson, seven months pregnant, who spent much of the night outside the offices
of the Salt Lake County clerk. “We’re not missing this.”
Her daughter is due in February, and Ms. Wilson said
that a marriage license would mean she and her partner of seven years, Emily
Eresuma, would both be recognized as the child’s parents, each of their names
listed on her birth certificate. Without the license, they have been exploring
out-of-state adoptions and other costly measures to ensure both women are legal
guardians.
After a cold night, she and Ms. Wilson were legally
married at 8:20 a.m. It was fast, in a stairwell, with Ms. Eresuma’s brother
performing the rites.
“It was fantastic,” Ms. Wilson said. “I’m a little bit
speechless. We are just ecstatic.”
Jack Healy reported from Denver, and Trip Gabriel from New York.