Indiana Judge: ‘No valid reason’ to not recognise terminally ill lesbian’s marriage

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An Indiana judge has said there was no valid reason to avoid recognising a terminally ill woman’s marriage to her partner, explaining his ruling in their favour earlier this month.

Judge Richard Young was referring to his decision on April 10 to allow Amy Sandler and Niki Quasney to marry, as Quansey is terminally ill.

He said that attorneys defending Indiana’s gay marriage ban haven’t shown any good reason to not recognise the marriage.

Despite the order only applying to the one couple, he also stated they were likely to succeed in their bid to have Indiana’s gay marriage ban declared unconstitutional.

Young also noted the huge amount of precedent in the case, due to preceding ruling in other states.

Since the US Supreme Court struck down the Defence of Marriage Act last year, 18 federal and state court decisions have addressed equality based on sexual orientation, and all of them ruled in favour of same-sex couples.

Earlier today, a pro-equality group in Pennsylvania announced they were seeking a summary judgement in their same-sex marriage ban challenge, as opposed to a full trial.