Weeks After Gay Marriage Ban Fails, Four Couples Sue Indiana For Right To Marry

History indeed repeats itself. Remember how Republicans in Michele Bachmann‘s home state of Minnesota tried to make voters ban marriage in 2012, only to see the legislature pass marriage equality into law in 2013? Remember how just a few weeks ago Republican lawmakers in Indiana foolishly tried to pass HJR-3, a voter referendum to ban same-sex marriage, only to see it fail?

Today, four same-sex couples filed suit against the state of Indiana, demanding the right to marry.

There currently are about 50 similar lawsuits in about half the states across the nation. Ever since the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of DOMA last year, every lawsuit that has been decided has been decided in favor of marriage equality.

“Plaintiffs Jo Ann Dale of Otisco, Ind., married Carol Uebehoer in Massachusetts six years ago,” the Washington Post reports. “They’ve been together 35 years, and Dale said not having legal recognition of their marriage creates a variety of problems, including filing tax returns, making medical and end-of-life decisions and even filling out simple forms that ask about marital status.”

Yes, they’ve “been together 35 years,” and yet they still have to beg the state for the right to marry? At what point does this just sound like we’re living in an episode of “The Twilight Zone”? At what point does this just sound like we’re living in an episode of “Sliders”?

“It feels so schizophrenic not to be recognized for who you are,” Dale said.

Sadly, I’m sure it does.

The Post continues:

“How long do you wait before you decide ‘I think I’d like to stand up for myself’,” said 66-year-old Lane Stumler of New Albany, who wants to marry his longtime partner Michael Drury. “How long do you wait to say that?”

The couples are being represented by the same attorneys who just won in Kentucky, forcing that state to recognize out-of-state legal marriages.

The Crimson Student Press of Louisville posted these tweets from today’s press conference (refresh page if tweets do not load):

The attorneys involved in Kentucky’s marriage equality case are filing a new case in Indiana #LGBT pic.twitter.com/EnGfgH59qS

— Crimson StudentPress (@theCSPN) March 7, 2014

 

“Our home is in Indiana…we fell in love, and we want to get married…in our hometown” Plaintiff Melissa Love of Jeffersonville, IN #LGBT

— Crimson StudentPress (@theCSPN) March 7, 2014

 

“It’s about love.” -Erin Brock of Jeffersonville, IN #LGBT

— Crimson StudentPress (@theCSPN) March 7, 2014

 

The case was filed in federal court in the “ultra-conservative” New Albany, Indiana.

 

Image by Crimson StudentPress via Twitter