On September 8, 2014, a same-sex couple filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against a county clerk and the Indiana Department of Health. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel and the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming that the state's ban on same-sex marriages violated their 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.

The plaintiffs were legally married in Illinois, but Indiana refused to recognize their marriage as part of its same-sex marriage ban. The couple claimed that the state's ban injured them by denying them "access to all protections, benefits, rights, and responsibilities afforded to married persons and their children under state law."

After the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Indiana's same-sex marriage ban in Baskin v. Bogan , 2014 WL 4359059, the plaintiffs in this case moved for a temporary restraining order to force Indiana to recognize their out-of-state marriage. But before the Court (Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen) ruled on the motion, the parties jointly stipulated that Indiana would recognize the plaintiffs' marriage while Bogan was pending appeal before the Supreme Court.

On September 11, 2014, the Court denied as moot Plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary
Restraining Order and stayed the case pending final resolution in Bogan. The court stated that once the Bogan appeal was resolved, Plaintiff should move to lift the stay.

On October 6, 2014, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Bogan case, 135 S. Ct. 316. Therefore, the Seventh Circuit's ruling in favor of the plaintiff couple in Borgan was upheld.

The plaintiffs filed voluntary notice of dismissal on December 19, 2014. The case is now closed.

Andrew Junker - 12/08/2014
Virginia Weeks - 02/18/2018


compress summary