It's impossible to forget. A young gay man serving his country in Iraq asks the prospective Republican nominees about their attitude towards repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. And the audience boos. Moreover, none of the candidates responds; not a one supports the soldier in any way.

That soldier, Steven Hill, is back in the United States now. He married his sweetheart, Joshua Snyder, in a ceremony in the District of Columbia a year ago. Now he lives in Ohio, a state that does not recognize same-sex marriages.

The couple isn't seeking to overturn the Ohio law. All the couple wants to do is change each of their last names to Hill-Snyder, hyphenating them together like a lots of heterosexual couples do. But it seems, although you can change your name for just about any reason in Ohio, if you do it because you've been "gay married" you get dissed and brought before a judge. Watch.





This soldier, forced to lie about his sexual orientation for so long in the military, was told to lie once again on his name-change application because otherwise the request would be denied.



Snyder says "it was kind of humiliating" to expect a name change would be no big deal and have it turn out so differently. "They basically told us to lie. They didn't use the word 'lie,' but they basically said if you use the word 'marriage,' it will get denied." But Hill refused to lie any longer, having served in the military for two decades under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. And so the couple filed their request to change their last names with marriage clearly labeled as their reason.

I don't know the specifics of the Ohio law, and the judge may ultimately decide to allow the couple to change their last name (or, ultimately, the case may go to the Ohio or even US Supreme Court).

But the sheer depth of animus AND sillyness this situation suggests is all the more reason that the US Supreme Court needs to start applying the 14th amendment to gays and lesbians, repealing DOMA and making it so that all across the country, if you're married, you're married, period.



