Same-sex marriage in Ohio

rdf:langString Same-sex marriage in Ohio

rdf:langString Same-sex marriage in Ohio has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, a landmark decision in which the court struck down Ohio's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015. The case was named after plaintiff Jim Obergefell, who sued the state of Ohio after officials refused to recognize his marriage on the death certificate of his husband. Same-sex marriages were performed in Ohio beginning shortly after the Supreme Court released its ruling, as local officials implemented the order. Two lawsuits in federal court challenged Ohio's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples, asking Ohio to recognize marriages from other jurisdictions for the purpose of recording a spouse on a death certificate and for recording parents' names on birth certificates. Judge Timothy Black, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, ruled that Ohio must recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. He stayed general enforcement of his ruling, but ordered the state to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages for completing death certificates in all cases and for four birth certificates. Attorney General Mike DeWine appealed the rulings to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which consolidated the two cases and held oral arguments on August 6, 2014. That court upheld Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage on November 6, 2014. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision and declared same-sex marriages legal in the United States in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015.