After the 2015 Obergefell decision, people were asking Florida to change the death certificates that indicated a partner in a same-sex relationship died unmarried without a surviving spouse. Florida refused and stated that they would not do so unless compelled to by an individual court order. Eventually, several widowers filed a lawsuit on behalf of all Floridians whose deceased same-sex spouses’ death certificates recorded them unmarried. The judge ruled in their favor, ordering the state to correct the death certificates and give way to Obergefell’s constitutional command.
See Mark Joseph Stern, Federal Judge Rules Florida Must Add Same Sex Spouses to Death Certificates, Slate, March 24, 2017.
Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
