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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