Arizona Equality Official Website tracking the progress of the complaint
filed against the State of Arizona on January 6, 2014,
for Marriage Equality.

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Clark Rowley and David Chaney

Clark Rowley and David ChaneyDavid Chaney and Clark Rowley

Meet the Plaintiffs: Clark Rowley and David Chaney

Clark Rowley was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. He left Iowa to attend Arizona State University. David Chaney was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and moved with his family first to Tucson, Arizona and later Sierra Vista. David also attended Arizona State University and the University of Arizona earning degrees from both institutions. Clark and David are both civic minded individuals supporting a charity for impoverished children worldwide and on a more personal level, raising funds for diabetes research. David is a type I diabetic and is at risk for a variety of diabetic related illnesses. Wanting to marry but denied by the State of Arizona, Clark and David held a commitment ceremony on October 9, 2010 in front of the fountains at the Scottsdale Civic Center for three hundred of their closest friends, an appropriate venue given their civic minded nature. David and Clark have made a public statement of their commitment to each other. They went through the traditional courtship process, held their ceremony and began sharing their lives together, merging their households and living their commitment to each other on a daily basis. David and Clark worry they have no legal recognition of their relationship or marry to obtain in their home state. They want to marry and want to be married in Arizona. They have rejected the idea of marrying in another state. Their commitment is no less than total, a commitment made to each other “in sickness and in health”. Clark and David learned from a friend about a grass roots developing lawsuit to challenge the ban on same sex marriage in Arizona. When asked if they would be interested in joining the case, they joined “without hesitation”.   David and Clark are a family, a family facing some potentially life changing medical issues and they deserve the right to care for each other and have their relationship recognized and protected by the institution of marriage here in Arizona. 

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    Same-Sex Marriage and ChildrenSame-Sex Marriage and Children is the first book to bring together historical, social science, and legal considerations to comprehensively respond to the objections to same-sex marriage that are based on the need to promote so-called "responsible procreation" and child welfare. Carlos A. Ball places the current marriage debates within a broader historical context by exploring how the procreative and child welfare claims used to try to deny same-sex couples the opportunity to marry are similar to earlier arguments used to defend interracial marriage bans, laws prohibiting disabled individuals from marrying, and the differential treatment of children born out of wedlock. Ball also draws a link between welfare reform and same-sex marriage bans by explaining how conservative proponents have defended both based on the need for the government to promote responsible procreation among heterosexuals. 

    In addition, Ball examines the social science studies relied on by opponents of same-sex marriage and explains in a highly engaging and accessible way why they do not support the contention that biological status and parental gender matter when it comes to parenting. He also explores the relevance of the social science studies on the children of lesbians and gay men to the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In doing so, the book looks closely at the gay marriage cases that recently reached the Supreme Court and explains why the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans cannot be defended on the basis that maintaining marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution helps to promote the best interests of children. Same-Sex Marriage and Children will help lawyers, law professors, judges, legislators, social and political scientists, historians, and child welfare officials-as well as general readers interested in matters related to marriage and families-understand the empirical and legal issues behind the intersection of same-sex marriage and children's welfare.
    © 2014 Arizona Equality