USA-COURT/GAY MARRIAGE-DEATH CERTIFICATE Death prompts push for Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage

Record ID: 152279

  • Title: USA-COURT/GAY MARRIAGE-DEATH CERTIFICATE Death prompts push for Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage
  • Date: 25th June 2015
  • Summary: PHOTOGRAPHS OF OBERGEFELL AND ARTHUR LAID ON COUNTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) JIM OBERGEFELL, PETITIONER IN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CASE TO BE HEARD BY THE U.S. SUPREME COURT, SAYING: "I leaned over, hugged John, kissed him and said 'Let's get married.' And at that point John was bed-ridden. He was dying of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and he was in at-home hospice care, so
  • Embargoed: 10th July 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
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  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT RAN ON APRIL 23, 2015 AND IS BEING REPEATED TO COMPLEMENT COVERAGE AHEAD OF THE SUPREME COURT DECISION ON GAY MARRIAGE WHICH IS EXPECTED BEFORE THE END OF JUNE
    After more than two decades together, Jim Obergefell proposed to his partner John Arthur, who lay dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
    The couple married on July 11, 2013 on board a chartered medical plane on the tarmac of Baltimore-Washington International Airport in the state of Maryland - far from their home in the state of Ohio which doesn't recognise same-sex marriage. Once married, they headed straight home on the same plane.
    Obergefell didn't know it then, but this would mark the beginning of his role as a key protagonist in the battle for marriage equality in the United States.
    "I leaned over, hugged John, kissed him and said 'Let's get married.' And at that point John was bed-ridden. He was dying of ALS, and he was in at-home hospice care, so he was confined to bed. And at that point he could move his right hand a little bit, he could move his right arm a little bit, and he could speak a few words at a time and he could move his head, but that was it," Obergefell said in the apartment he had shared with Arthur in Cincinnati.
    "Being able to say those words and to make those promises to the love of my life was the happiest moment of my life," Obergefell said.
    Arthur died three months later.
    Prior to his death, the couple learned that Ohio law dictated that Obergefell's name would not be listed as spouse on Arthur's death certificate and Arthur would be listed as single.
    Ohio voters banned same-sex marriage by state constitutional amendment in 2004 and the state does not recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states.
    Obergefell sued Ohio, seeking to have his name listed on Arthur's death certificate as surviving spouse.
    An injunction allowed Obergefell's name to be printed on the certificate at the time of Arthur's death, but that ruling was overturned and Obergefell has appealed that decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
    "The state of Ohio wants nothing more than to take John's last official record as a person and to change it so that it's wrong. They want to erase the fact that John and I were legally married. They want to erase the official record of our marriage, of me as John's spouse. There's no way I would ever stop fighting for that," he said.
    Obergefell, 48, is now the lead petitioner in the Supreme Court hearing over whether states can ban same-sex marriage, with the decision expected before the end of June.
    After more than two decades of litigation, a Supreme Court decision could determine whether gay men and women have a nationwide right to marry. Currently 37 of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. allow same-sex marriage.
    The petitioners in the cases from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky are same-sex couples seeking to marry or to have their marriages from other states recognized.
    At issue in the hearing are two questions: whether the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law covers a right to same-sex marriage; and, if it does not, whether states that ban same-sex marriages must recognize such unions performed in other states.
    Opponents of same-sex marriage in Ohio argue that marriage is defined as a relationship between a man and a woman and that the justice system should not be able to decide on an issue that was voted on in 2004.
    "When you vote, that is supposed to be the highest law in the land. Supreme Court is not higher than people's votes. The Supreme Court is under the people's votes. And if the Supreme Court can come out and override the will of the people, that's a distinct problem. Now we've got a tyranny. And even if it's a small group, that's a tyranny and not a republic," Charles Tassell, vice president of Citizens for Community Values, said in an interview in April.
    The Supreme Court justices have divided narrowly on gay rights dilemmas. In the most recent case, U.S. v. Windsor in 2013, the justices split 5-4 as they rejected a law defining marriage as between only a man and woman for purposes of federal benefits. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is in the conservative camp but has taken the lead on gay rights, voted with the four liberals and wrote the opinion for the court. Joining him were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. In dissent were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
    Obergefell is expected to be in Washington D.C. for the court's decision. He said he hopes the court's decision will validate his relationship.
    "It will be bittersweet that John isn't there with me to know it and to celebrate it, but it will be an incredible legacy for him and for the love that we shared."
    A decision from the Supreme Court is expected by the end of June.
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