At a glance
“In less than a year, every Federal District Court to consider the issue has reached the same conclusion in thoughtful and thorough opinions — laws prohibiting the celebration and recognition of same-sex marriages are unconstitutional. … It is clear that the fundamental right to marry shall not be deprived to some individuals based solely on the person they choose to love. In time, Americans will look at the marriage of couples such as [the] plaintiffs, and refer to it simply as a marriage — not a same-sex marriage. These couples, when gender and sexual orientation are taken away, are in all respects like the family down the street. The Constitution demands that we treat them as such.”
— U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young, June 25, 2014
An eager and probably nervous couple stands before a minister or a judge or a county clerk and exchanges vows, accepting the legal, moral and ethical obligations of a marriage.
The couple has properly obtained a marriage license and has had its application approved by the county office that issues such licenses. By the power vested in the person performing the ceremony, the couple is declared legally married in the eyes of the State of Indiana.
The couple embraces and kisses, and the dearly beloved who are assembled cheer and throw rice or bird seed or blow bubbles. A meal, cake, speeches, dancing and celebration quickly follow.
A few days later, the couple learns its marriage, which was perfectly legal in the eyes of the state when it was performed, is now under further review — and could be for several months or even years.
This is a hypothetical couple, but it has hundreds of real-life Hoosier counterparts, including several in the Wabash Valley. These couples are now not living in the State of Indiana but instead in the State of Limbo. They will remain there until a federal appeals court — or the U.S. Supreme Court — rules on the question of whether an Indiana law banning same-sex marriage is constitutional. U.S. District Judge Richard Young ruled the ban unconstitutional on June 25.
Gov. Mike Pence, in a dismissive manner, has added to the uncertainty for these couples — and the families and friends of all political persuasions who love and support them — by declaring on Wednesday that state agencies that report to his office should act as if couples who were legally married are not married at all.
Pence says he’s doing so to comply with a federal district court ruling that stayed — put on hold — Young’s ruling of unconstitutionality until it can move through the federal appeals court process.
Such a stay is appropriate so the existing law’s constitutionality can be more widely debated in the courts. That is not to make a judgment on the matter at issue. That is the process. One side wins a case. The other side appeals. A higher court hears the appeal and issues a decision — on up the line until the highest court makes a supreme ruling, or declines to hear the case.
What is not appropriate and what is in fact objectionable is for Pence to presume that until proven otherwise, these same-sex couples are not married. Quite to the contrary, those couples should be presumed to be married until proven otherwise. In making his determination, Pence, of course, decided in favor of his long-held bias: That marriage can only be between one man and one woman.
The correct final decision is what Judge Young has stated in his Indiana ruling (see a salient quote from it here). Same-sex couples in all states should be allowed to marry, with full legal rights.
But even if the final court decision comes out against same-sex marriage, those Indiana marriages that were performed in the three days that such marriages were legal should forever remain legal and fully recognized as such. And those same-sex, married couples, at the very least, should be welcomed back to the State of Indiana and be able to say goodbye to the State of Limbo.
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