Cincinnati has honored the lead
plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that struck down state bans that
excluded gay and lesbian couples from marriage.
Jim Obergefell and his husband John
Arthur challenged Ohio's voter-approved constitutional amendment that
defined marriage as a heterosexual union after the state refused to
recognize their Maryland marriage. The couple married on the tarmac
of a Baltimore airport. Arthur died from ALS in 2013, but Obergefell
continued their case.
Members of the City Council voted
unanimously to give Mercer Street the honorary name of “John Arthur
& Jim Obergefell Way.”
In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in
Obergefell that gay couples have a constitutional right to
marry.
“John always wanted to leave a mark
in Cincinnati,” Obergefell
said at Wednesday's unveiling. “That was something he really
wanted to do. He didn't have that chance, but now he does. I'm
grateful and I know John would be as well.”
The couple lived on Mercer Street at
the time of Arthur's death.