Supreme Court Allows Same-Sex Marriage to Continue in Kansas

A Supreme Court decision has made gay marriage legal in
Kansas...for now.
Image:  Shutterstock

Last Thursday, same-sex couples in Kansas flocked to county offices for marriage licenses as a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way over objections from the state attorney general.

The Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay issued by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and allowed Kansas couples to marry despite the lawsuit filed by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.  Schmidt’s argument was that the Supreme Court decision should only affect Kansas counties specifically covered by the ruling.  He filed the lawsuit after dozens of gay couples on the Missouri border received marriage licenses last month.  One couple was married and about 70 others received licenses before the lawsuit required officials to stop temporarily.

The Kansas Supreme Court is set to begin deliberating gay marriage, but couples aren’t waiting for the final outcome, choosing instead to get licenses while they’re able.  Only Johnson County is being made to wait until the state Supreme Court rules.

In the past, the US Supreme Court has tried to stay out of conflicts over this issue at the state level.  With Schmidt’s lawsuit, however, there was a difference:  while similar cases in the past have resulted in a unanimous decision not to intervene, this time, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas voted to keep the stay against same-sex marriages in place.  Though they were ultimately out-voted, the occurrence does mark a potential change in how the Supreme Court will deal with future cases.

"The elected officials in this state are working hard to block this yet again," said Shanon Fletcher, who applied for a marriage license with her partner at the Lyon County Courthouse.  "But something that has held true my entire life is, 'Love conquers all.' And eventually it will conquer here. Love will prevail over hate."