AP
By Travis Loller
April 16, 2015
When
Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty began dating during post-graduate
veterinary training at Cornell University, their relationship faced more
than the usual run of hurdles.
Tanco
is Argentinian, and once her residency ended, she wound up on the west
coast of Canada, while Jesty remained on the east coast of the U.S.
Tanco
proposed marriage when they met up in the mountains of Banff, Canada,
during that separation. She'd arranged for a waiter to bring a ring on a
dessert plate, but
there was a long delay before he came to the table.
"I was so nervous she thought I was breaking up with her!" Tanco said.
The
two wed legally in a courthouse ceremony in New York a year later. In
the meantime, both had been offered jobs at the University of Tennessee
College of Veterinary
Medicine in Knoxville. Only after they got to Tennessee did the
ramifications of living in a state that didn't recognize their marriage
become apparent.
One
fear was eased when, after the Supreme Court struck down part of the
federal anti-gay marriage law, Tanco received a green card letting her
stay in the United States
as Jesty's spouse.
But
when Tanco became pregnant, the two worried about Jesty's rights as a
parent. Just before Tanco gave birth, a federal judge in Nashville
ordered the state to recognize
their marriage.
That
recognition was later overturned, but not until after they had become
the first same-sex couple in Tennessee to have their names listed
together on a birth certificate.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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