County breakdown of gay marriage in Kansas

“Marriage has broken out across Kansas! Well, in some places. In others, we're going to have to keep up the fight until our rights are fully recognized,” said Tom Witt, the Executive Director of Equality Kansas.

Witt has issued a summary of counties where the same-sex marriage status is known. He also answers questions couples seeking to be married, and those already legally married in other states may have.

Known county status

Here's what we know, county by county, about marriage license applications and issuance. (Of Kansas’ 105 counties, the status of licenses application and issuance is only known for the following 15.)

Butler County - Refusing to accept applications, and will not issue licenses.

Cowley County - Accepting applications and issuing licenses to earlier applicants.

Douglas County - Accepting applications and issuing licenses. Some applicants yesterday were able to have the three-day waiting period waived by the judge.

Elk County - Refusing to accept applications, and will not issue licenses.

Franklin County - Accepting applications. Will issue licenses at end of three-day waiting period.

Greenwood County - Refusing to accept applications, and will not issue licenses.

Harvey County - Accepting applications, but will not issue licenses until ordered by a higher court.

Johnson County - Accepting applications. Issuance on hold until Kansas Supreme Court rules after Monday, Nov 17, deliberations.

McPherson County - Accepting applications, but will not issue licenses until ordered by a higher court.

Reno County - Accepting applications, but will not issue licenses until ordered by a higher court.

Riley County - Accepting applications and issuing licenses to earlier applicants.

Saline County - Accepting applications, but will not issue licenses until ordered by a higher court.

Sedgwick County - Accepting applications and issuing licenses to earlier applicants.

Shawnee County - Accepting application. Will issue licenses at end of three day waiting period.

Wyandotte County - Accepting applications and issuing licenses to earlier applicants.

Seven counties are accepting applications, and issuing licenses. Three counties are not accepting applications, and will not issue licenses. The remainder are accepting applications, but will not issue licenses until ordered by a higher court. (County court judges’ offices issue marriage licenses in the state.)

Request for information on other counties: If you have solid information about any counties not on this list, or new information about those that are, please email me atwitt@eqks.org. As we get more information throughout the day and over the weekend, we'll post it on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/EqualityKansas

Other news

In other news, Attorney General Derek Schmidt is now ducking and running. After spending the day ducking phone calls from reporters, his office released a statement that said, in part:

"The state judiciary must determine for itself the reach of (U.S. District Judge Daniel) Crabtree's ruling, and we expect that will occur as judges throughout the state are presented with applications."

AG Schmidt has basically washed his hands of it and has decided to leave implementation up to individual judges across the state. This is Recipe Number One for more chaos, confusion, and continued denial of rights.

Questions/Answers

Finally, there are questions that keep coming up that I'll briefly answer here:

Out of state marriages:

- You will continue to get resistance from state agencies over having your marriage recognized. Please note the name of whoever denies you government services, and forward that information to witt@eqks.org. We will compile a list and get it to the ACLU for further action.

- DO NOT attempt to remarry in Kansas. If you are married out of state, that marriage is legal and valid. The state of Kansas will recognize it eventually.

In-state marriage recognition:

- We will see the same resistance by state agencies as with out of state marriages. Get the name of whoever denies you service, and forward that information to witt@eqks.org

Marriage license application process:

- One partner can file the original application, but both must be present three days later to pick up the license.

- You must pick up your license from the same courthouse where you filed the application. You cannot file in one county, and pick up your license in another.

- A fee of approximately $85 is due at the time you pick up your marriage license. The courts will not take checks or credit cards - you must be prepared to pay cash.

Witt concluded his posting with a joyous “Go get married!!”

The Gayly - November 14, 2014 @ 10:30am