ACLU asks Holder about Indiana gay marriages

Natasha Martz, Heather Dobbs, Jathan Coker and Jeremy Phatterson hold up their marriage licenses after receiving them June 26 at the Delaware County Clerk
Natasha Martz, Heather Dobbs, Jathan Coker and Jeremy Phatterson hold up their marriage licenses after receiving them June 26 at the Delaware County Clerk

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys today asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to step in on behalf of hundreds of same-sex couples who were wed before a federal appeals court stayed an order striking down Indiana's gay marriage ban.

The letter by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana asks Holder to issue a statement that the federal government will recognize the marriages as he did in Utah and Michigan, which would make Indiana's couples eligible for federal benefits for married couples.

The ACLU's move comes the same week that Gov. Mike Pence's office said the state wouldn't recognize the same marriages.

Hundreds of couples were married from June 25, when a U.S. district court judge struck down the state's gay marriage ban, to June 27, when a federal appeals court stayed the decision.

Gov. Mike Pence's general counsel instructed state agencies Monday not to recognize the marriages that were performed during that gap. 

Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, said today that he believed the state's position was incorrect.

"These marriages were lawful and valid when they were entered into and we do not believe that they can be retroactively voided," Falk said in the letter, which was mailed to the attorney general's office today.

Pence's office did not return phone calls and emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.

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