Idaho won’t let Navy veteran be buried with her wife

[n2doc]

Madelynn Taylor served in the Navy for six years. That should be enough for her to have a final resting place in the Idaho Veterans Cemetery.

But Taylor, 74, wants the ashes of her late wife to join her. In Idaho, state law has it that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s in the state constitution.

Taylor could go to a national veterans cemetery. That would be out of state.

She told the Boise Weekly she wants to be buried close to home.

State veterans officials told the Boise Weekly that they are sympathetic, but the law is the law.

“We have to honor, foremost, the state constitution,” one officials said.

So Taylor’s last wishes can’t be granted.

“I’m not surprised,” Taylor KBOI in Boise. “I’ve been discriminated against for 70 years, and they might as well discriminate against me in death as well as life.”

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/04/24/idaho-wont-let-navy-veteran-be-buried-with-her-wife/

[dbackjon]

1. The Law is Unconstitutional

You need to honor, foremost, the Equality portion of the FEDERAL Constitution, jackasses

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Adding a Link

Idaho Says No to Final Resting Place for Veteran and Spouse

[nightscanner59]

3. Maybe Jesus will rapture...

His "loyally homophobic" following straight to Uganda where they can live with the bigotry they support.

[RKP5637]

4. Some just love to persecute others every chance they get and fall back on laws or create laws

to enable their favorite pastime of persecution and hatred.

[IDemo]

5. Adding an update (happy ending)

Idaho veteran donates burial plot so fellow vet can be buried with same-sex spouse

A former U.S. Army colonel is offering his burial plot to fellow veteran Madelynn Taylor so that she can be buried with her wife, a request that had been denied by state officials citing Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Madelynn Taylor, 74, knew she didn’t have much time left after her wife, Jean Mixner, died in 2012. Last December, Taylor decided to get her affairs in order and went to the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to inquire about a shared burial plot.

Her request was denied.

The Idaho State Veterans Cemetery requires a valid marriage certificate for a non-military spouse to be buried alongside a veteran. Though Mixner and Taylor were married in California in 2008, their marriage isn’t recognized in Idaho which passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 banning same sex marriage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/01/from-a-young-veteran-to-an-old-one-a-hallowed-burial-plot-for-same-sex-couple/?tid=hp_mm

Sorry to say, I wasn't aware of this story until recently. I worked with Madelynn decades ago.