A federal judge in Evansville ordered April 10 that the state of Indiana must recognize the marriage of a lesbian couple as one of the partners fights stage four cancer.
The couple, Amy Sandler and Niki Quasney of Munster, had a civil union in Illinois and were married in Massachusetts. They were plaintiffs in a lawsuit along with their two children, ages 1 and 3.
Quasney was diagnosed with ovarian cancer five years ago, according to a statement by Lambda Legal, who argued the case on Quasney and her family's behalf in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Indiana.
"They're married, they love each other and they are doing their best to protect their family," said Paul Castillo, staff attorney for Lambda Legal, in the statement. "The local hospital defers to state law to determine whether a couple is validly married, and Niki worries that she won't be able to be with Amy when it counts. Niki also wants to make sure Amy has the protections of a surviving spouse under Indiana law."
The initial lawsuit, Baskin v. Bogan, was filed on behalf of three other Indiana couples March 10. Quasney and Sandler were added as co-plaintiffs March 31. Attorneys asked that their decision be expedited.
"We are so relieved," said Quasney in the statement. "We are so thankful that we can move forward and concentrate on being with each other. Our time together and with our daughters is the most important thing in the world to me."
The lawsuit follows an aggressive, but for the moment stalled, attempt to write Indiana's marriage ban into the state's constitution. Marriage equality opponents there fast-tracked a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in order to give the state more leverage in potential litigation. It passed in the legislature this winter, but changes to the language of the bill meant long delays before the matter goes to voters for a referendum.
In December, a federal judge in Illinois ordered that terminally ill parties to a lawsuit there, Darby v. Orr, should be allowed to marry in Cook County ahead of what was then a planned June 1 start date for gay marriages.
Castillo was joined by Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Camilla Taylor and Barbara Baird of the Law Office of Barbara J. Baird of Indianapolis, Ind., as well as Jordan Heinz, Brent Ray, Dmitriy Tishyevich, and Robyn English of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on the suit.
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