Kansas same-sex marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

A federal judge today ruled against the ban on same-sex marriage in Kansas.
The Washington Blade reports that U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement on Kansas law prohibiting of marriage rights for same-sex couples. The injunction is warranted, Crabtree writes, because of legal precedent and because state officials defending the law haven’t made a sufficient case they would prevail in court.

“Because Kansas’ constitution and statutes indeed do what Kitchen forbids, the Court concludes that Kansas’ same-sex marriage ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” Crabtree writes. “Accordingly, the Court grants plaintiffs’ request for preliminary relief and enters the injunction described at the end of this Order.”

A temporary stay was included as part of the decision, so same-sex couples won’t be able to wed in Kansas until 5 pm Central Time  Nov. 11, unless the state informs the court sooner it won’t seek review before the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Two lesbian couples, one from Wichita and the other from Lecompton, brought the suit challenging the constitutionality of Kansas’ same-sex marriage ban.

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