The tragedy of Indiana's marriage equality moment

It took a terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis for the state of Indiana to recognize a same-sex couple’s marriage.

To say “better late than never” would be tactless, but it’s also tactless that Indiana state legislators are still actively attempting to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in our state.

Amy Sandler and Niki Quasney are a same-sex couple from Munster, Ind. They have been together for 13 years, and they have two children. Quasney was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2009. Thankfully, United States District Judge Richard Young ruled in favor of the couple last Thursday. Now, Indiana must recognize the couple’s marriage before Quasney passes away.

Though this notion is cosmetic in the sense that it legally makes these four individuals a family before a parent dies, it also makes the legal proceedings that follow a death much smoother than if Sandler and Quasney’s marriage was not recognized by the state.

Sandler and Quasney are part of a larger lawsuit looking to overturn Indiana’s marriage ban. Their personal fight is coming to a close, buttheir cause and their ultimate dream will continue on as same-sex Hoosier couples fight for their relationships to be  recognized by their state and their country.

It’s unfortunate it came down to this, but it does seem like a small victory in a state where laws regarding homosexuality and same-sex couples are quite less than even subpar. Because, remember, the state of Indiana has no laws against hate crimes.

It’s no secret the Indiana Daily Student Editorial Board has many members who support marriage equality and lean left, and many identify as queer. You probably already guessed the tone of this editorial before you read it.

You also probably know you’d be hard pressed to find a staff editorial in the recent past that wasn’t overwhelmingly pro-LGBT in some way. So we, the IDS Editorial Board, are begging our state representatives to stop making us write this editorial.

There are only so many ways we can point out that it is now 2014, and we only have so much longer to legalize same-sex marriage in our state before we look like total idiots in history books years from now. Sandler and Quasney’s victory is a beautiful outcome of a horrendous situation.

Let’s hope their struggle wakes up our representatives to the fact that equality shouldn’t come in somebody’s final moments, but should be spread over their entire lifetime.

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