Stephen Hill and his husband Joshua
Snyder are fighting for the right to change their names to
Snyder-Hill after being told they could not under Ohio law.
Hill made headlines last year during a
Republican presidential debate when he submitted a YouTube video
question answered by then-candidate Rick Santorum.
“Do you intend to circumvent the
progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the
military?” Hill asked, referring to the repeal of “Don't Ask,
Don't Tell,” the military policy that banned gay and bisexual
troops from serving openly.
Hill's video question was booed by the
audience, who were clearly delighted when Santorum
said DADT repeal was a “tragic social experiment” and that he
would work to reinstate the policy, if elected president.
Hill and Snyder, who married last year
in Washington D.C. but live in Columbus, were pulled aside when they
submitted their application to hyphenate their last names together.
Appearing on cabler Current TV's The
War Room, Hill said the couple were told to lie about the reason
for the name change.
“If you had gone in there and said
that you wanted to combine your names and change your names because
you belong to a hip-hop group and that's how you wanted to brand
yourselves and lied, that would have been fine. But because you told
the truth and said that you were married you may be denied,” guest
host John Fugelsang said.
“That's correct,” Hill said. “When
the magistrate pulled us in there, she said that you can put any
other reason on this application. … I'm not going to lie. That's
one thing I have told myself since 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was
repealed. The Army accepts me. I'm not going to lie to anybody
else.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.
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After a short hearing, a judge said he
would mail the couple his decision. The couple said they would file
an appeal if denied.