A Texas judge has ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, in a case where one of the plaintiffs has died.

In 2008 Sonemaly Phrasavath andÂ StellaÂ Powell held a commitmentÂ ceremony in their home state of Texas. Five years later,Â in October of 2013,Â Powell received a diagnosis of colon cancer. Less than one year later, she died. The couple had been together eight years, but Texas’ marriage ban precludedÂ Phrasavath from even the most basic of comforts and rights any different-sex spouse who lost a loved one would be granted without question.

“In the days following Stellaâ€™s passing, Sonemaly was told that she could not collect her loveâ€™s ashes but [would] have to go through a member of Stellaâ€™s family to receive it, and was not entitled to all of the estate that she had built with Stella over the course of their marriage,” a post at Texas for Marriage reads. “Additionally, the funeral home denied her request to obtain a certified copy of Stellaâ€™s death certificate, stating that the law doesnâ€™t consider her ‘legal’ kin.”

Today,Â Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled in the couple’s favor, finding that the Texas marriage ban is unconstitutional.

For now, same-sex couples in the county are not able to marry.

â€œI am scrambling, trying to find out if there is anything I can do,” Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir told the Statesman.Â “Right now, I think itâ€™s no, but we are checking.â€ The paper reports that DeBeauvoirÂ “in the past has said that she is ready to begin distributing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as soon as allowed by the courts.”



The ruling is here, via Equality Case Files.



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