On Friday, June 26th, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of full marriage equality for all Americans. Unfortunately, several counties in Kansas employ chief judges who refused to allow marriage licenses to be issued.
Many couples were also denied requests to change their drivers’ licenses to reflect their legal names, and were told name changes won’t be allowed until a direct order comes from the Kansas state Department of Revenue.
On Tuesday, June 30th, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt dismissed his suit against Johnson County Chief Judge Moriarty, effectively ending one of two state legal challenges to same-sex marriages in Kansas. The only legal challenge still pending is a Federal lawsuit against the state constitutional marriage ban. There is currently a pending request for summary judgement from ACLU attorneys.
Equality Kansas chased conflicting rumors all day, and now is confirming that same-sex couples can get their name changes processed on their drivers licenses, and that state employees can enroll their same-sex spouses in their state employee health plans. This news has come to us from Equality Kansas members and others in Kansas’ LGBT population throughout the day.
