By Bob Allen
A Missouri state judge said Nov. 5 that St. Louis officials can begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, finding that the state constitution’s ban on gay marriage violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison rejected a request to stop the St. Louis City Hall from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The decision comes on the heels of a ruling last month by a Kansas City judge that marriages of Missouri gay couples wed in other states or countries must be recognized by their home state.
The decision applied immediately to St. Louis County, Missouri’s most populous area, but officials in other counties are holding off pending clarification of whether the ruling affects only the parties involved or the entire state.
Attorney General Chris Koster said he is appealing the ruling but did not request a stay. Don Hinkle, director of public policy for the Missouri Baptist Convention, said the “ruling is not based on any sound, legal reasoning and should be easily overturned.”
Hinkle called Koster’s failure to request a stay “a travesty” and predicted the attorney general might “someday stand before the people of Missouri either in an impeachment hearing or in an open election where presumably the votes of the people will matter.”
Gay marriage is now legal in 32 states and the District of Columbia.