Judges in at least four Kansas counties were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples a day after the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling allowing them to wed. KMUW’s Abigail Wilson reports that by noon Thursday nearly a dozen couples picked up marriage applications at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.
Gay couples in Sedgwick County stopped by the courthouse all throughout the day to pick up and file marriage applications. And although Kansas has a three-day waiting period couples must abide by before they can get an actual license, some have already met that requirement. That’s where Jackie Carter, the pastor at First Metropolitan Community Church comes in. She greets couples as they get off the elevator.
“Our plan is to have at least one of the welcoming clergy down here this week just in case somebody has already met their three day wait limit and wants to get married on the spot,” she says.
By 5 p.m. Thursday, 11 same-sex couples had picked up marriage applications, four applications had been filed and three same-sex marriage licenses had been issued at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.
“I think people are still wondering, ‘is this really true? Are we really going to be able to get a marriage license?’ And the answer is yes, they just need to come apply,” Carter says.
Carter spent most of the day on the sixth floor of the courthouse, along with other clergy, congratulating and chatting happily with applicants.
“I never thought in my lifetime that I would see this day in Kansas," she says. "I thought I would have to go to the coast somewhere with more open-minded folks. This is just a life-changing event for me and everybody in this state that is in a same-gendered relationship.”
The Kansas Supreme Court issued a statement Thursday afternoon announcing that it will begin deliberating gay marriage once again on Monday. Same-sex unions are now legal in 32 states.
