A gay couple together 45 years has
asked a federal judge to order Arizona officials to recognize their
out-of-state marriage.
Fred McQuire and George Martinez of
Green Valley were married in California last month.
Martinez is fighting a diagnosis of
terminal pancreatic cancer, the AP reported.
Lawyers for the couple, both veterans
of the U.S. Armed Services, say the court's intervention is needed so
Martinez can be listed as married on his anticipated death
certificate and McQuire can be recognized as his surviving spouse.
The men are plaintiffs in one of two
cases challenging Arizona's marriage ban.
Arizona voters in 2008 approved
Proposition 102, which limits marriage to heterosexual couples, two
years after rejecting Proposition 107, which sought to prohibit gay
couples from marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic
partnerships.