Lake County Changes Civil Union Policy After Indiana Couple Turned Away

Story by Kate Sosin, courtesy of the Windy City Times

Lake County has reversed its policy of denying civil union licenses to same-sex couples who travel from states that do not recognize the unions, just days after an Indiana couple reported they were turned away.

Gina Osting-Riddle and Andrea Riddle filed a complaint in Lake County on March 30 because they were denied a civil union license. According to Osting-Riddle, County Clerk employees told them that because their home state of Indiana prohibited civil unions, Lake County could not issue them a civil union certificate.

Civil unions are not prohibited in Indiana. Rather, they are not recognized, and other Illinois counties have issued Indiana couples civil union licenses.

Osting-Riddle and Riddle had told Windy City Times that they drove more than four hours to the Clerk's office in Waukegan, IL from their Fairmount, IN home. They brought with them their children and extended families in hopes of tying of the knot in Illinois and returning by April 2 when Osting-Riddle's father started chemotherapy treatments.

Read the whole story here.