Plaintiffs in Ohio gay marriage cases look forward to their U.S. Supreme Court date

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Gay rights advocate Vin Testa waves a rainbow flag in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in an Associated Press file photo

(The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, D. C. - Plaintiffs in the Ohio gay marriage case the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Friday were ecstatic at the prospect their out-of-state unions will be recognized at home.

"I am so happy about having our day in court about this situation," said Cincinnati's Pam Yorksmith, a plaintiff in the case with her wife, Nicole. "We are exceptionally ecstatic the Supreme Court has taken this opportunity to say, 'Yes, we want to look at the injustices that are suffered by our family, and families like our families, every day because we live in a state that does not recognize our marriage."

Jim Obergefell, also of Cincinnati, was also delighted that the Supreme Court bad decided to hear the case seeking recognition of his marriage to John Arthur, who died while the case worked its way through the legal system.

"I am missing John so much at the moment, I have been doing nothing but cry tears of joy and sadness," he said. "I can't wait to walk up those steps and have the Supreme Court understand that we're just like everyone else. We just want respect and rights. It has been a great day."

Lawyers in the cases said they're optimistic the court will overturn bans that keep 14 states including Ohio from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, but said they won't take anything for granted.

"We don't know how the court will rule," said Cincinnati attorney Al Gerhardstein. All we can promise is our very best advocacy to overturn these bans."

Gerhardstein and lawyers on the other gay marriage cases did not think the issues the court agreed to hear - whether the Constitution's 14th Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex, and whether it requires them to recognize lawful same-sex marriages from other states - showed the court was leaning in a particular direction on the case.

They said the questions it chose would address common issues in the cases it agreed to hear from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan.

"The 14th Amendment is at the heart of the legal issues, requiring equal protection and granting the same fundamental rights and dignity to same sex couples," said Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal, an organization that litigates cases involving civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV.

Experts familiar with the case and the Supreme Court said they didn't want to predict how the court will rule, but believe it will be was going to be a close vote.

"It's pretty clear the court is divided 4-4 and [Justice Anthony] Kennedy is going to be the vote to get," Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said. "I don't think there's much doubt about that."

Kennedy authored United States v. Windsor in 2013, a ruling that struck down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and paved the way for the nationwide deluge of same-sex marriage litigation. Many of the legal arguments in Windsor were brought up in the 6th Circuit cases, and a gay marriage decision from a Chicago appeals court from September was seen, at least in part, as a way to make an to appeal to Kennedy to take up the issue.

Still, Marc Spindelman, a professor at Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University said courts' decision to not hear prior gay marriage cases "makes it hard to imagine that the Supreme Court will issue a decision that allows the states to discriminate in the definition of marriage."

When asked what would happen if the court could uphold same-sex marriage bans, though, he avoided answering the question.

While it may be a close case, he likened same-sex marriage as an issue to a train riding down the tracks.

"Nobody wants to make an inaccurate prediction ... but the expectation is things are chugging along," he said.

Northeast Ohio Media Group reporter Eric Heisig contributed to this report.

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