CINCINNATI (AP) - An attorney for couples seeking to overturn Ohio’s ban on recognizing out-of-state gay marriages said they are disappointed by Thursday’s federal appeals court decision and will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the cases.
Ohio’s two cases were among several in which the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld anti-gay marriage laws in a 2-1 ruling.
In one case, four gay and lesbian couples want both spouses listed as parents on their children’s birth certificates and their marriages recognized; in the other, a Cincinnati man wants his late husband listed as married on his death certificate so they can be buried next to each other in a family-only plot.
“We believe the U.S. District Court and the dissent on the three-judge panel got it right,” said Al Gerhardstein, an attorney in both Ohio cases, saying his clients will appeal.
The federal appeals court broke ranks with other courts that have considered laws on gay marriage, increasing the likelihood the Supreme Court will take up the issue.
“We are very disappointed that the Sixth Circuit strayed from the path of justice that four sister circuits have already followed,” said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, which also represented couples challenging the Ohio law. “Ohio families will suffer until this decision is reversed.”
Dan Tierney, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said in an email that the office was “pleased the court agreed with our arguments that important issues such as these should be determined through the democratic process.”
A spokesman for Republican Gov. John Kasich didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment, but the governor has previously said he supports Ohio’s gay marriage ban and believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, the Cincinnati-area lawmaker who last year became the first Republican in the Senate to back gay marriage, had no immediate comment. He announced his reversal on the issue after learning one of his sons is gay.
Ohio’s other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, said in a statement that he was disappointed in the Thursday ruling but remained “optimistic that we will win this fight.”
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Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
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