On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in a case challenging Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage. As ideastream's Nick Castele explains, the court's decision will have repercussions beyond the Buckeye State.
The case centers on two questions: whether the constitution requires states to license marriages between two people of the same sex, and whether states must recognize gay marriages performed in other states.
The case began when a Cincinnati man named James Obergefell sued the state of Ohio over its voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.
Obergefell had traveled to Maryland to marry his longtime partner, who was dying of Lou Gherig's disease. He went to court to ask Ohio to recognize that union on his husband's death certificate. Obergefell's husband, John Arthur, died in 2013.
As the case moved up through the courts, it was combined with challenges to same-sex marriage bans in other states.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a brief defending the ban. The Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision in June.
