HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) _ Indiana has agreed to recognize a second same-sex marriage because one of the women is battling cancer.
A federal judge on Thursday approved the agreement between the state, the Lake County clerk and Veronica Romero and Mayra Yvette Rivera of Whiting.
Romero and Rivera were married in Illinois last March, and Rivera has ovarian cancer. The state agreed to list the couple as married on Rivera's death certificate after the couple argued that failing to do so would exclude Romero and their children from death benefits.
Munster residents Niki Quasney and Amy Sandler made similar arguments. Quasney has advanced ovarian cancer, and the couple were married in Massachusetts.
Theirs is the first same-sex marriage recognized while the battle over Indiana's gay marriage ban passes through the courts.
