US: Wyoming same-sex marriage lawsuit will be allowed to go to trial

A Wyoming judge has declined to rule on the constitutionality of a state law that specifies marriage is limited to one man and one woman.

Laramie County District Court Judge Thomas Campbell also decided at a hearing Tuesday not to suspend a lawsuit filed by four gay couples and a gay-rights advocacy group pending a possible US Supreme Court ruling on the issue of same-sex marriage.

This past April, the state of Wyoming asked for a judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the four gay couples asking to strike down its ban on same-sex marriage.

The Republican Governor of Wyoming, Matt Mead, has said that he believes marriage should only be between one man and one woman.

The marriage definition bill, which attempted to change the definition of marriage from between ‘a male and a female ‘ to between ‘two natural persons’ was voted down earlier this year.

41 representatives voted against the bill, and 17 voted in favor.

Wyoming, like Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado fall under the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals where bans on same-sex marriage have been ruled as unconstitutional.

The precedent set by the Utah and Oklahoma rulings which states that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional applies to all those states, but the US Supreme Court blocked the rulings from taking effect in certain states pending appeals.

• Nov 29 2023

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