MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s been a year since Cynthia Landis married her partner, Melissa Landis, in the District of Columbia, and since that time Cynthia’s legal last name has been Landis — in fact, it now says so on her Social Security card, her District of Columbia marriage certificate and her Virginia driver’s license.
Cyndee Landis (right) with her wife, Melissa Landis, and their daughter Anne.
The problem now is that the Landis’ are moving to West Virginia, and that state refuses to issue Cynthia a drivers license in the name of Landis because she’s married to a woman and state law forbids the agency from recognizing any documents related to a same-sex marriage.
According to West Virginia Motor Vehicle Commissioner Steve Dale, his agency would be glad to issue Cynthia a license in her ex-husband’s last name because, in the state’s eyes, that’s still legally her name, reported the Charleston Gazette.
“I can’t believe that the state has the right to just say, willy-nilly, ‘We’re only going to recognize the legality of the documents we choose and not these.’ It’s ridiculous,” said Landis, who has sent a complaint letter to the governor’s office.
“I’m not asking the state to recognize my marriage,” she said, “but that is the proof that I have that my name has changed.”
Cynthia, 34, and Melissa, 30, married in D.C. in October 2011, and within a month Cynthia was able to obtain a new drivers license and social security card in the state of Virginia, where they resided, using their valid marriage certificate.
But upon moving to rural Hampshire County in West Virginia, state law requires new residents to surrender their old licenses within 30 days and obtain West Virginia cards.
In 2000, at the request of then-Republican Gov. Cecil Underwood, W. Va. lawmakers passed their own version of a Defense of Marriage Act, specifying that the only legal union is one between a man and a woman. That law reads that “public acts, records or judicial proceedings of any other state” regarding a same-sex marriage, “or a right or claim arising from such relationship, shall not be given effect by this state.”
And because of that law, Cynthia Landis is now an illegal driver in West Virginia, even though her Virginia license is valid through 2020.
“If this law were not in effect, we would have taken the marriage certificate on its face value as an official record and used it,” said Dale.
Filed under: West Virginia
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Doesn’t surprise me. Now if they were SIBLINGS, that would be a whole ‘nother story…
WTF!!!!!!!
DOUBLE WTF!!!
Dickhead Bigots
Maybe she needs to say its her cousin? She should get it then….
that’s messed up….
What nonsense!
American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia already posted this on their FB page & hopefully they will help this American citizen who is being denied her human rights by the heterosupremacist apartheid tyrannical theocRAT thugs in West Virginia
fer cryin out loud already! It’s 20frickin12~
wow
Sad
Thats so stupid when are people gonna stop being so ignorant
Oh I see a big lawsuit coming. I hope those couples make big $$$$ out of it
LSB: Sadly, the thinking is 18th century… It makes our HEALTHY gay kids become very ill… even to the point of taking their own life. F A Earle MD PhD
The fact this kind of thing is still a problem tho
Ok lets not include all West Virginians in that stereotype…Ive lived here all my life n Im ashamed (but not surprised) of my state…especially since I happen 2 be a lesbian myself…sad 2 say,but I know that we’ll be 1 lf the last 2 jump on the bandwagon as we are with everything else….
Hell no!!!
Well what do you expect?! This is the place where NOT marrying a family is strictly prohibited.
Wow. Way to be douche bags West Virginia. I won’t be spending any time there again. Good luck ladies. Your going to need it.
Nobody wrote a big story about my wife and me when this happened to us, lol.
Ignorance is bliss so sad
DOMA is unconstitutional anyway. Anyone who is a member of the gay community should really look into why. But, briefly: Basically, the constitution says that any document made official in one state must be honored in another–like a driver’s license or marriage certificate. It was done to keep the states from becoming too powerful, or basically fucking each other over. But, Clinton put DOMA in place and yeah, it prevents states where marriage to another of the same gender is illegal from honoring that document (from another state where it is). If we didn’t have DOMA they wouldn’t even be having this problem in the article above.
What?!?! Ashamed for my home state!
That’s ridiculous. Anyway okay since they can’t drive I guess they can use other forms of transportation, say bus or bike. I am going to say they are just looking out for homosexual couples insisting that they should still stay healthy and fit, regardless of the fact that they are now happily married/together to live their life to the fullest.
Soooo wrong….I hope whenever I get married that doesn’t still happen!!
Al Bundy was right: Who’s the genius who let West Virginia become a state?
Prats!
despicable
Ridiculous and backward
Ain’t that the same state that carrie ‘other taboo’ relations? But they have a problem with same sex marriage?
I live in WV.. and I am not proud to say I do… It is wrong of them to not issue their licenses to them.. I hate this retarded redneck state!!!
Oh Yeah…it’s okay for a brother to marry a sister; or for a rapist to marry his victim; but it’s NOT okay for two people, of the same gender, who love each other, to get married.- It’s a Sad, Sad world when a wife-beater can be more “accepted” than a same-gender couple just wanting to get married.- VERY, VERY SAD.-
Just wrong!
Sad very sad
Ok I’m from wv .. No brother and sister can not marry that’s as dumb as the rest of this shit… But here is a thought before attacking wv .. How many other states are there that gay marriage is illegal??? This will happen in those states as well not just wv .. So until the rest of the world can stop being as small minded this shit its gonna happen until gay marriage is no longer illegal !!
What b.s…. I don’t understand why some areas are trying to fight gay marriage so hard. Eventually we will be able to be free and have rights like everyone else. We just have to keep fighting and endure until then. Have faith.
It appears to be a repeat of the Va vs Loving case.
TY for posting! And TY to all those who support my right to be known by my legal name. WV is not the only state this has happened in, and I am not the only victim of this type of discrimination…my hope is to bring discussions like this to the forefront of the public forums, and hopefully (with help) affect change in the laws of our country. PS – I am waiting on a return call from the ACLU. I will not be quiet, I will not back down.
Change for a minority against the majority only happens with a little push back. It’s part of the fight for equality. That’s what happened in Loving vs Virginia and will eventually happen with us. People like us have to keep the pressure up.