Federal judge orders Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages

A federal judge on Monday ordered Ohio authorities to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in other states, after the state voted in a referendum in 2004 to bar performing or recognizing gay marriages.

Judge Timothy Black ruled that refusing to recognize same-sex marriage is a violation of constitutional rights and “unenforceable in all circumstances,” in the latest court victory for gay rights supporters.

“The record before this court … is staggeringly devoid of any legitimate justification for the state’s ongoing arbitrary discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” Black wrote.

The order does not force Ohio to allow gay marriages to be performed in the state. The state plans to appeal Black’s ruling, arguing that Ohio has a sovereign right to prohibit gay marriage, as voters overwhelmingly did in 2004.

Black delayed deciding whether to issue a stay of his ruling pending the state’s appeal in the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals until after attorneys on both sides present arguments on the issue by Tuesday.

The judge said he is inclined to stay his ruling pending appeal, except for the portion that applies to the four gay couples that filed the February lawsuit that led to the court case. That would mean Ohio would immediately have to recognize their marriages and list both spouses as parents on their children’s birth certificates.

If Black declines to stay his broader ruling, then gay couples in the state would be allowed to obtain the same benefits as any other married couple in Ohio, including property rights and the right to make some medical decisions on behalf of their partners.

Attorneys representing the four same-sex couples argued that the status quo amounts to state-approved discrimination and likened it to when interracial marriage was illegal in the some states.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told The Associated Press last week that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman and that Ohio voters decided the same in 2004 when they passed the statewide gay marriage ban.

“My job as attorney general is to defend statutes and defend Ohio’s constitutional provisions,” he said Wednesday. “This was voted on by voters, so my job is to do that.”

Same-sex marriage is legal in 17 states and Washington, D.C. Federal judges have recently struck down gay marriage bans in Michigan, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia — though stays have been issued pending appeals.

In rulings similar to Ohio’s, judges in Kentucky and Tennessee have ordered state officials to recognize out-of-state gay marriages. The Kentucky decision has been stayed pending appeal, while Tennessee’s ruling applies to only three couples.

Al Gerhardstein, a Cincinnati civil rights attorney who has filed three gay marriage lawsuits in Ohio since June, said several same-sex couples that want to win the right to marry in Ohio have contacted him. He's considering filing a new lawsuit on their behalf aimed at striking down the state’s gay marriage ban entirely.

“The ultimate goal is full marriage equality,” Gerhardstein said.

Wire services