On October 7, 2014, four same-sex couples and Wyoming Equality filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming under 42 U.S.C § 1983 against the State of Wyoming. The four couples live in Wyoming, two seek to get married in the state and the others seek to have their marriages, performed in other jurisdictions, legally recognized in the state. Wyoming Equality is a non-profit organization that works on behalf of LGBT causes in the state. The plaintiffs asked the court to preliminarily and permanently enjoin the enforcement of Wyoming Statute 20-1-101, which denies marriage licenses to same-sex couples and forbids the recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The plaintiffs argued that by defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, the law deprives same-sex couples of the right to due process and the equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In addition, the plaintiffs argued that the law must be overturned in light of the Tenth Circuit's decisions in Kitchen v. Herbert and Bishop v. Smith, which both held that laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs also sought the costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees related to the lawsuit.

On October 17, 2014, the United States District Court (Judge Scott W. Skavdahl) entered an order preliminarily enjoining the enforcement of Wyoming Statute 20-1-101, ruling Kitchen and Bishop controlled the outcome of the case. The court (Judge Skavdahl) found that Wyoming's ban on same sex marriage did violate the couples' rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Defendants decided not to appeal the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and on January 29, 2015 the court (Judge Skavdahl) entered an order permanently enjoining Wyoming from enforcing statute 20-1-101.

Thomas Topping - 02/09/2015


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