Pam Yorksmith, left, and her spouse Nicole Yorksmith, along with their children, Grayden and Orion. The couple are Ohio plaintiffs in a same-sex marriage case to be argued before the Supreme Court on April 28. Photo: Gary Landers, AP

Pam Yorksmith, left, and her spouse Nicole Yorksmith, along with their children, Grayden and Orion. The couple are Ohio plaintiffs in a same-sex marriage case to be argued before the Supreme Court on April 28. Photo: Gary Landers, AP

This article is one in a series showcasing the families who are plaintiffs in the marriage equality cases that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28. Read more here.



CINCINNATI — Raising two young children in states that don’t recognize that their parents are married has confronted Nicole and Pam Yorksmith with a range of problems.

They live in Kentucky and work in neighboring Ohio, both states that ban same-sex marriage, and that complicates school enrollment, benefits, travel and tax matters and, most worrisome, medical emergencies.

“You run the gamut,” said Pam, a consultant in health care information technology.

While they consider themselves co-parents of the children that Nicole, 35, delivered after artificial insemination, a lot of other institutions don’t see them that way.

That was a problem when 9-month-old Orion came down with croup in the middle of the night.

“He had really labored breathing,” Pam recalled. Their pediatrician recommended taking him to the emergency room, and since 4-year-old Grayden was asleep, Nicole stayed home with him.

But Pam wasn’t listed on Orion’s birth certificate or records.

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“An hour later, they had to call Nicole,” Pam said. “They have to call my wife to get permission to treat my child.”

Orion recovered, but it was a troubling reminder that as much as they want to live as a normal family since their 2008 marriage in California, they face obstacles.

“I’m a very traditional person,” said Nicole. “We knew very early on that we wanted to get married and have a family – let’s get a house, let’s get married, then let’s have kids. And that’s what we did.”

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