WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Officials in some conservative states, where Supreme Court action could clear the way for same-sex weddings, say they won’t issue marriage licenses to gay couples until their hands are forced. Gay rights advocates are preparing and filing new federal lawsuits to do just that.
On Monday, the nation’s highest court refused to take up appeals from five states seeking to preserve their gay marriage bans. Six other states – Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming – would be bound by those same appellate rulings that were put on hold.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt noted that, to date, no court has squarely decided whether the Kansas Constitution’s prohibition of same-sex marriage is invalid and that the state will deal with any litigation as it comes. And Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, fighting a close re-election battle in which he needs conservative support, says the state should defend the ban.
“The people have spoken on this,” Brownback said. “I don’t know how much more you can bolster it than to have a vote of the people to put in the constitution that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.”
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said the state’s attorney general will also defend its constitution defining marriage between a man and a woman, and that the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear appeals of gay marriage bans had no impact on a state case contesting that definition. South Carolina’s attorney general said if a court specifically rules against that state’s gay marriage ban, he will then decide how to proceed.