Throughout Ohio’s history, Ohio law has been clear: a marriage solemnized outside of Ohio is valid in Ohio if it is valid where solemnized. [...] How then can Ohio, especially given the historical status of Ohio law, single out same sex marriages as ones it will not recognize? The short answer is that Ohio cannot ... at least not under the circumstances here.

Predictably but infuriatingly enough, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is trying to overturn the judge's order that Ohio recognize the marriage between John Arthur, who is terminally ill and nearing the end of his life, and his husband, James Obergefell. While Judge Timothy Black's decision was limited to this one case, it doesn't take a political genius to see that these words , coming from a judge, spell trouble for discriminatory laws:And so, whether it's solely because DeWine knows that allowing those words to stand, even as limited to one specific case, would undermine Ohio's discriminatory laws, or whether it's also because he's just that filled with hate, he's trying to ensure that Arthur and Obergefell are not counted as legally married when Arthur dies. The personal stakes for the two men aren't even about money; rather, the question is whether they can be buried next to each other in a family plot that will only allow a legal spouse.

This is how discrimination is enforced, in thousands of personal cruelties designed to make others think twice before seeking better treatment. The day when this marriage will be recognized by every state is coming, but John Arthur doesn't have that long, and Mike DeWine is going to see to it that the last days of his life are taken up in a court battle.