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Cleveland Lawsuit Hopes To Overturn Ohio’s Gay Marriage Ban
By: WOUB Staff Writer
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A gay married couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit asking a judge to declare Ohio's statewide ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Al Cowger Jr. and Tony Wesley Jr. of Gates Mills in suburban Cleveland.
The couple, who have been together for 28 years, married in upstate New York in 2012 and have a 7-year-old adopted daughter.
They say because of Ohio's gay marriage ban – passed by voters in 2004 – they have been denied a family plan under President Barack Obama's health care law in violation of their constitutional rights.
Arguments in the lawsuit mirror recent successful litigation that has led to federal judges declaring gay marriage bans in other states unconstitutional, most recently in Virginia on Feb. 13.