Summary: A lesbian couple has asked an appeals court in the state of Texas to speed up its ruling schedule on a gay marriage case due to a pregnancy.
A lesbian couple from Texas has challenged the ban on same-sex marriage in the state and has asked a federal appeals court to rush its oral arguments since they are expecting a baby in March, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Nicole Dimetman, a lawyer, filed a motion with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that requested the court schedule oral arguments for November in the hopes that a ruling will be issued prior to giving birth to her baby.
Dimetman’s partner, U.S. Air Force veteran Cleopatra De Leon, married in 2009 in Massachusetts. They want their marriage to be recognized by the state of Texas.
The following is from the motion filed by the plaintiffs:
“What should typically be a joyous, albeit anxious time, in any marriage will instead be fraught with uncertainty and insecurity that no married heterosexual couple must endure…As a result, Dimetman and De Leon will suffer the substantial uncertainty (and cost) required for De Leon to legally adopt the child. More importantly, the child will be exposed to great uncertainty and insecurity if, for some reason, Dimetman is rendered incapable of caring for the newborn child. For instance, if Dimetman did not survive childbirth, the baby will be an orphan without a parent directing the baby’s care.”
The Texas Attorney General’s office did not issue comment on the case, but the plaintiff’s filing says that the state is against putting the case on a fasttrack.
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