US: Indiana Attorney General urged to acknowledge marriage of lesbian couple battling cancer
Lambda Legal has filed papers with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in an attempt to have a stay lifted on the marriage of one lesbian couple currently battling ovarian cancer.
The organization, that has urged Attorney General Greg Zoeller to allow the recognition of Niki Quasney and Amy Sandler’s marriage, has again been met with resistance.
According to Lambda Legal, papers were filed Monday with the 7th Circuit Court of appeals on an emergency basis to allow the lesbian couple’s marriage to be recognised in the state of Indiana. Zoeller however, continues to push back and has filed additional papers insisting that the court not recognise their marriage.
Camilla Taylor, Marriage Project Director for Lambda Legal, said in a statement that the actions of the attorney general are heartless and unbecoming of a public figure.
She said: “He [Mr Zoeller] is taking steps that no other attorney general anywhere in the country has in fighting to deny respect to the marriage of only one couple facing very significant health issues. Attorney General Greg Zoeller will not have the last word, justice will. This Indiana family is undergoing tremendous stress while they courageously fight Ms. Quasney’s stage four ovarian cancer. Their marriage doesn’t harm anyone in Indiana, it simply protects them and their children.”
Quasney and Sandler were originally married in Massachusetts in 2013 and have two young children. An online petition was started by Lambda Legal to have the stay on the their marriage lifted.
The situation for same-sex Indiana couples who were married before the stay is still unclear.
