A U.S. District judge that Slate calls “the unsung hero of marriage equality in Florida” has ordered the state to catch up with the Constitution and re-issue death certificates for Floridians who were “designated unmarried at time of death because their spouses were of the same sex,” even if they had been legally married in another state:
James Merrick Smith and Hal F.B. Birchfield lived together in Florida for 42 years. They married in New York in 2012, and Smith died in Florida in 2013. At the time, Florida refused to recognize same-sex unions—so Smith’s death certificate listed him as unmarried with no surviving spouse. After the Supreme Court ruled inObergefell v. Hodges in 2015 that the Constitution protects same-sex couples’ right to marry, Birchfield asked the state to correct Smith’s death certificate. But Florida refused, declaring that it would not correct any death certificate that falsely listed an individual as unmarried with no surviving spouse unless compelled to do so by an individual court order.
Birchfield and another gay widower, Paul Mocko, sued on behalf of themselves—and all other Floridians whose deceased same-sex spouses’ death certificates listed them as unmarried. And on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in their favor and ordered the state to correct these death certificates.
“The state of Florida discriminated against us and disrespected our relationship in life and even in James’ death, but this decision will ensure that I and all the other surviving same-sex spouses will finally have accurate death certificates that honor our relationships,” Birchfield said in a statement
The judge has a long history of going to bat for the rights of LGBT Americans in Florida, according to Slate: “Hinkle, you may recall, first blocked Florida’s same-sex marriage ban in 2014, then ordered recalcitrant state officials to comply with the law in a series of follow-up rulings involving uncooperative clerks and birth certificates.”
Imagine that, LGBT Americans having the same constitutional rights as any other American. What a novel idea, especially these days.
