John Arthur and Jim Obergefell Are Demanding That Ohio Recognize Their Marriage

Last week I posted about John Arthur and Jim Obergefell of Ohio who made quite the trek to Maryland to get married. John suffers from ALS, so their trip involved donations to cover the cost of a medical transport, and all kinds of pre-arrangements so they could fly to Maryland, marry one another on the runway and then fly home. [See John Arthur and Jim Obergefell: A Wish Fulfilled]

And they did it. But they aren’t done, y’all, not by a long shot.

Last Friday John and Jim filed a federal lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio not to recognize their marriage. The suit states that the way Ohio law treats marriages between opposite-sex couples is unfairly different from the way it treats marriages between same-sex couples.

"It's blatant discrimination. It's a denial of equal protection."— Al Gerhardstein, John and Jim’s attorney

The suit also mentions marriages of first cousins; now, to be fair, in Ohio, marriage between first cousins is illegal, but if those first cousins travel to another state that recognizes their marriage, and they get married, upon their return to Ohio they are recognized as a legally married couple in the state. Not so for The Gays who marry elsewhere and return to Ohio.

Gerhardstein says the Arthur-Obergefell suit has importance beyond the law, because the two men are running out of time. John Arthur’s ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, with no known cure, that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, could take his life, and the two men want their marriage recognized before that happens.

"We want nothing more than for our marriage to count in the place we call home. When [Arthur] dies, his death certificate should reflect our marriage just like the records of all the other married couples in Ohio."—Jim Obergefell

Here’s hoping it will. They are a married couple, and should be recognized as such, no matter where they live.

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As a sidenote of a personal nature, after thirteen years of living in glorious sin, Carlos and I have decided to make honest men out of each other.

Now, South Carolina will not recognize our marriage, but it will help to have that federal recognition behind our commitment to one another.

We don't as yet know when, or where, but I'd like to do it on the day I call our anniversary, the day I moved to Miami to be with Carlos, October 17, and I might want to go to Washington state so my father can be a witness.

My father, who upon hearing this news, said to me, 'Congratlulations to my two sons."