Could marriage equality’s Roe v. Wade moment unfold in Kentucky?

Teaching his son, Isaiah, to drive is a milestone memory for Greg Bourke. But in the state of Kentucky, this father and son are not a legal family, according to the state’s laws.

Bourke and Michael De Leon, fathers of two kids, recently lost their lawsuit against the state of Kentucky and its governor, seeking marriage rights. Some legal analysts say their appeal in Bourke v. Beshear could be the Roe v. Wade of same-sex marriage: the case that goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“When we started this a year and a half ago, we certainly didn’t think that we would be a case going to [the] Supreme Court,” Bourke told America Tonight in an exclusive on-air interview. “We thought that that would be played out long before us. There were so many other states in the queue before us, and we really thought, well, this is going to get settled before Kentucky makes it to the Supreme Court.” He added: “I mean, we’re shocked. I mean, we didn’t think that Kentucky might be this case.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6^th Circuit, which was the only circuit court to rule against marriage equality, is often called unpredictable. Here, De Leon and Burke lost their appeal last month. The federals appeals court upheld the same-sex marriage bans in four states: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. In the only appeals court ruling so far that has upheld bans, Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote: “By creating a status (marriage)…the states created an incentive for two people who procreate together…for purposes of rearing offspring…couples of the same sex do not have children in the same way as couple of opposite sexes.”

That’s obvious to De Leon and Bourke, who adopted their two children, Bella and Isaiah. De Leon and Bourke actually already tied the knot in Ontario, on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, in 2004. But that means nothing in Kentucky. They’ve had to jump through legal hoops to try and duplicate the legal protections automatically granted to heterosexual parents. Kentucky adoption laws don’t treat same-sex couples equally, which has only further complicated matters.

“It’s been a challenge of the years,” Bourke said. “Even before we had children, we had to go to extraordinary means to kind of simulate a marriage in terms of legal rights. But [with] the children, it goes to a whole different level.” De Leon added: “The big thing for us is to be able to put both our names on the birth certificates as their parents just as it is.”

There's mounting pressure on the Supreme Court to take up the case. Pleas have been made from the governors of Kentucky and Louisiana. There's also been a formal request from 30 major U.S. companies, such as Apple, as well as new appeals from other couples in four states, including Bourke and De Leon. 

So, could Bourke v. Beshear be remembered as a crucial step for marriage equality? Shannon Fauver, an attorney who is part of the legal team representing Bourke and De Leon and a handful of other Kentucky couples, believes so.

"I believe it's something we're going to be studying in law school," Fauver said.