Tuesday, April 15, 2014
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A federal judge in Cincinnati sided with several gay couples Monday, ruling the state must recognize same-gender marriages conducted outside of Ohio.
Judge Timothy S. Black found that there was no “legitimate justification for the state’s ongoing arbitrary discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and, therefore, Ohio’s marriage recognition bans are facially unconstitutional and unenforceable under any circumstances.”
Judge Black’s decision was expected — he announced the contents and filing date earlier this month. And the judge made it clear that the ruling “does not require Ohio to authorize the performance of same-sex marriage. ... Today’s ruling merely requires Ohio to recognize valid same-sex marriages lawfully performed in states which do authorize such marriages.”
Judge Black noted that multiple federal rulings have already declared similar bans elsewhere on the recognition of gay marriage as unconstitutional.
The Ohio case involves four same-gender couples who were married in out-of-state ceremonies and who want to put their spouses’ names on birth certificates.
The latter is not allowed under the state’s gay marriage ban, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004. Plaintiffs in the case argue that the Ohio Department of Health issued same-sex birth certificates for adopted children prior to January 2011, but that state policy was changed.
Three of the women involved are pregnant by means of artificial insemination and expected to give birth later this year. One male couple has an Ohio-born adopted son.
Judge Black ruled in favor of the couples Monday, writing, “Identification on the child’s birth certificate is the basic currency by which parents can freely exercise these protected parental rights and responsibilities. It is also the only common governmentally conferred, uniformly recognized, readily accepted record that establishes identity, parentage and citizenship, and it is required in an array of legal contexts.”
The judge wrote that birth certificates are used by parents when registering children for school, making decisions about medical treatment, obtaining Social Security numbers, claiming dependents, seeking insurance coverage, for example.
He added, “The inability to obtain an accurate birth certificate saddles the child with the lifelong disability of a government identity document that does not reflect the child’s parentage and burdens the ability of the child’s parents to exercise their parental rights and responsibilities.”
Judge Black also wrote that heterosexual couples who give birth by means of artificial insemination using anonymous donors routinely have their names included on birth certificates.
In a lengthy footnote, the judge issued a temporary stay, pending additional filings and court proceedings, but he did indicate he was not inclined delay his order for the same-sex couples named in the suit who are set to give birth.