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The landmark case that helped bring equal marriage nationwide.

Henry v. Hodges sought recognition of out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples and their rights as parents to their children. Ohio refuses to even grant accurate birth certificates listing both parents for children born in Ohio to legally married same-sex couples. Ohio’s refusal to recognize legal marriages of same-sex couples from out of state forces the loving, committed couples to name only one parent on a child’s birth certificate. Plaintiffs include four married couples seeking both recognition of their marriages in Ohio as well as, most urgently, an order requiring the State to place the names of both parents on the birth certificates of their babies. Three of the couples conceived using donors and gave birth in Ohio hospitals. The fourth couple are married men living in New York City whose adopted son was born in Ohio.