Navy Veteran Denied Burial With Wife in Idaho Files Civil Rights Suit
A US Navy veteran, after her request to be buried with the ashes of her deceased wife was denied, has filed a civil rights lawsuit in the US District Court in Boise, Idaho.
In April, KBOI, Boise’s CBS affiliate, reported that 74-year-old Madelynn Taylor “went to the Idaho Veterans Cemetery and asked officials to reserve a spot for interment, along with her partner’s ashes.’’ The cemetery allows spouses of veterans to be buried or interred with them.
But she was denied her request.
A member of the Division of Veterans Services told KBOI they “have to abide by the Idaho state constitution,’’ which does not allow gay marriage.
This week, Taylor decided to sue.
CBS reported:
“Taylor’s situation is ‘among the most extreme examples of the harm caused by state laws that deny respect to the marriages of same-sex couples,’ said Christopher Stoll, a senior attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is representing Taylor. ‘Denying these important protections to committed couples is not simply unjust, it is needlessly cruel.’’’
By suing, Taylor hopes that the judge will decide to “allow her ashes to be interred in a memorial wall along with those of Mixner,’’ CBS said.
Taylor and her wife, Jean Mixner, met on a blind date in 1995 and were married in Oregon that same year at a special ceremony. They were legally married in California in 2008. Mixner died in 2012, according to KBOI.
Though there are others veterans cemeteries Taylor and Mixner could be buried together at, according to CBS, they chose to be in Idaho where their family is close by.
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