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What would happen to their son if something happens to them?

An impending birth prompted Brittani Henry and Brittni Rogers to get married. Worries about what the future holds pushed them to join legal cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
By DAN SEWELL | Associated Press · Updated on April 18, 2015
What would happen to their son if something happens to them?
Britini Rogers, left and Brittani Henry with their son Jayseon in Middletown, Ohio. An impending birth spurred Henry and Rogers to get married. It’s the possibility of an untimely death that pushed them to become part of the same-sex marriage legal actions now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Britini Rogers, left and Brittani Henry with their son Jayseon in Middletown, Ohio. An impending birth spurred Henry and Rogers to get married. It’s the possibility of an untimely death that pushed them to become part of the same-sex marriage legal actions now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Brittani Henry via AP

This article is one in a series showcasing the families who are plaintiffs in the marriage equality cases that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28. Read more here.

CINCINNATI — An impending birth prompted Brittani Henry and Brittni Rogers to get married. Worries about what the future holds pushed them to join legal cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

They’ve been together since 2008, and Henry was pregnant when they traveled to New York to be wed Jan. 17, 2014. Jayseon was born in Cincinnati that June.

The couple says the joys of marriage and their son’s birth are clouded by anxiety about not having Rogers recognized as his parent, too. Ohio doesn’t accept their marriage and allows only one of them on Jayseon’s birth certificate.

“If something should happen to my wife such that she could no longer take care of our children, there is no guarantee that I will be granted custody,” Rogers said in a statement for the lawsuit.

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And if something happened to her, Rogers said, her own parents might not be given legal rights as grandparents.

Rogers and Henry are among four same-sex couples with children who sued for recognition of their marriages on Ohio birth certificates.

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