Ohio attorneys urge judge to lift stay on recognition of same-sex marriages
Attorneys representing four same-sex couples who sued the state of Ohio for recognition of their out-of-state marriages have argued that a federal judge should lift a stay issued on Monday.
Judge Timothy Black’s official ruling came on Monday, meaning the state must recognise out-of-state same-sex marriages. He announced the intention to do so last week.
In the ruling, however, he indicated that he would stay the ruling, pending appeal by the state.
In three out of four couples, one woman is pregnant, expecting to give birth imminently. The other is a New York male couple who adopted a child in Ohio.
The attorneys said the couples could suffer “severe and irreparable harm”, if the stay were to remain in place.
The state’s Attorney General Mike DeWine has until 3pm on Tuesday to file a response.
The lawyers said the state “cannot demonstrate how giving children born in Ohio the security of having both their parents listed on their birth certificate results in anything but good.”
