Locals react to gay-marriage decision
Kelly McCracken, 32, her wife Kelly Noe, 32, pose with their daughter Ruby Noe-McCracken, 7 months, at their home in the Cincinnati area, on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. McCracken and Noe were married in 2011 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. (Sam Greene/SGdoesit.com for Lambda Legal)
YOUNGSTOWN
As cheers erupted around her, Kelly McCracken, 33, took a moment for herself.
“I just immediately grabbed Kelly and Ruby and we cried for a minute,” said McCracken, who Mahoning Valley residents might recognize as the lead singer of the local band The Kellys. McCracken, originally from Warren, now lives in the Cincinnati area with her spouse, Kelly Noe, 32, and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, Ruby.
The Kellys – the couple – were plaintiffs in the landmark case on which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday. Same-sex marriage is now legal nationwide after the court’s 5-4 ruling striking down state bans on same-sex marriage.
Ohio was one of 13 states with restrictions on gay marriage.
For McCracken, the journey started in the Cincinnati law office where she and Noe, who became pregnant with Ruby via artificial insemination, visited before Ruby was born. On Friday, the couple returned to the office to await the decision.
“We walked into this office when Kelly was six months pregnant. ... We just wanted to see what we could do to get my name on [Ruby’s] birth certificate,” McCracken said.
“Now we’re walking out of the office with full marriage recognition and my name permanently on Ruby’s birth certificate.”
THE DECISION
The decision came on a historically significant day for the marriage-equality movement: On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, thereby removing any federal obstacles to same-sex marriage.
Ohio’s ban, which went into effect after a 2004 state referendum, remained in place. Bans in Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana and Michigan were upheld in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decision in November 2014.
In April, petitioners from those states argued before the Supreme Court that state bans violate the 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses.
Dissenting from the majority opinion in the ruling were Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts. The majority opinion was penned by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were,” the opinion reads.
“ ... They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right,” it concludes.
POLITICIANS REACT
The phrase “love that may endure even past death” surely refers to plaintiff James Obergefell of Cincinnati, whose spouse, John Arthur, died in 2013. Obergefell began his fight when Ohio refused to recognize him on Arthur’s death certificate.
In a conference call with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and reporters, Obergefell spoke emotionally about the ruling.
“It was a moment I had been hoping and wishing for for so long,” he said. “It just made me feel good to be an American at that moment – and it made me miss my husband.
“It’s been an amazing experience for me to stand up for my husband and fight for our relationship. ... I really thank my husband, John, for making me a better person and giving me something to fight for.”
Brown, D-Cleveland, and Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman each issued statements in support of the ruling.
Valley elected officials also weighed in on the historic decision.
“Today the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what we have known all along: that all families are equal and all families deserve to be treated equally under the law,” Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, said in a released statement. “This is a day to celebrate an historic victory for love and equality.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said: “Marriage rights should not depend on what state you live in or who you love, but the understanding that all men and women should be treated equally. Today love won.”
IN THE VALLEY
Walking into the Trumbull County Courthouse on Friday to obtain a marriage license was not nearly the first step Barry Tenney and Larry Carr of Warren have taken to achieve equality.
Tenney said the opportunity to have their relationship recognized as equal to those between a man and woman marks a great day. But it’s also his hope it will be another step toward erasing the hate and discrimination they have faced throughout their lives.
“Larry got dragged out of the car and beaten,” Tenney said.
Tenney said he experienced constant harassment while working 35 years in a local factory – from having things placed in his coffee to being called names. “It was hell,” he said.
The two have been together for 35 years, which also is how long they have played music together in the Youngstown-Warren area as members of different bands.
In Mahoning County, no same-sex couples applied for a marriage license Friday. Probate court officials, however, are prepared to issue them, with new, gender-neutral wording, despite a three-week period before the ruling takes effect so the losing side can ask for reconsideration.
“I don’t think there’s much harm in issuing licenses,” said Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. of Mahoning County Probate Court.
Valley religious organizations had mixed reactions to the decision.
“We hold to a traditional view of marriage, that it’s between a man and a woman, so we will not be performing same-sex marriages,” said the Rev. Bob Quaintance of Good Hope Lutheran Church in Boardman.
On the other hand, “We would absolutely love to perform marriages for any couple,” said ministerial intern Kristina Spaude of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Youngstown. “Our religious beliefs call us to act in favor of the inherent dignity and worth of all people.”
Former Youngstown resident Thomas John “TJ” Williams of Chicago, whose marriage in 2011 to Brad Hauger was the first same-sex marriage announcement printed in The Vindicator, expressed happiness about the decision, saying, “It means that as a religious couple, when I come home to visit my loved ones in Ohio, we can come home as a married couple.”
IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE
For McCracken and her family, it’s time to celebrate.
Her mother, Pam Politsky Bernard of Warren, looks forward to visiting them this weekend. She and McCracken exchanged “I love you” text messages moments after the decision came out, she said.
“I’m feeling so happy and so content. I’m so proud of my daughter and my daughter-in-law. They’re a family, and now it’s recognized by law, and I’m just so happy,” Politsky Bernard said. “This is epic. It’s a milestone.”
McCracken looks forward to telling Ruby about this day when she’s older, she said.
“We can be an entire family, recognized in our state and our country, like every other family,” she said.