In action against state and county officials alleging Indiana’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage violated Fourteenth Amendment due process and equal protection, lesbian couple married out of state had standing to seek preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of provision banning recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside the state as applied to them; officials were required to enforce ban, ban harmed couple in numerous ways, including causing couple to drive to another state where marriage was recognized in order for one of them to receive medical care and dignity of marital status, and preliminary injunction would redress claimed injury. Lesbian couple married out of state was likely to succeed on merits of Fourteenth Amendment equal protection challenge to Indiana’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed out of state, even under rational basis standard of review, as required for preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of provision as applied to couple; state asserted interest in preserving “traditional marriage” to encourage responsible procreation and raising children in household with both male and female role models, but state viewed heterosexual couples who, for whatever reason, were not capable of producing children as furthering those interests.
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Laura W. Morgan is the owner and operator at Family Law Consulting in Charlottesville, Virginia. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. She can be reached through her website: www.
