Same-sex marriage hearing set for Thursday in Evansville

U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Young will conduct the hearing in a lawsuit filed by five same-sex couples who want either to marry in Indiana or to have their unions from other states recognized by the state.

The case is one of five challenging the state’s same-sex marriage ban that have also been assigned to Young.

While the Indiana General Assembly did not send a proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage to a referendum this year, Indiana already bars same-sex marriage by state statue by defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

The case Young will hear Thursday involves couples from Boone, Porter, Hamilton and Lake counties and requests a temporary restraining order of the state’s marriage laws for one of the couples where one of the woman is battling terminal ovarian cancer.

The couple from Munster was legally married in Massachusetts in 2013. In the federal complaint, the women argue the state’s marriage laws “encourages and invites private bias and discrimination, including in medical settings.”

The complaint argues the court should grant a temporary restraining order for the Munster couple, who are parents of two young children, because “they have an urgent need to have their marriage recognized” because of the terminal illness.

Young in a teleconference with attorneys Friday and set a hearing on the temporary restraining order at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Bryan Corbin, spokesman for the Indiana Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General’s office is representing the state in the case. Corbin said attorneys for both sides will have the opportunity to make arguments at the hearing.

The other cases also pertain to the recognition of same-sex marriage in the state. An Evansville police officer is involved in one of the lawsuits. Officer Karen Kajmowicz-Vaughn is among a group of Indiana law enforcement officials suing the state in hopes of securing equal pension benefits for same-sex partners.