Kansas Urges Judge Not to Rule on Gay Marriage
Kansas Urges Judge Not to Rule on Gay Marriage
KANSAS CITY, Kan. Oct 31, 2014, 8:41 PM ET
By JOHN HANNA Associated Press
The Kansas attorney general's office told a federal judge Friday that he should not consider blocking the state from enforcing its gay-marriage ban until the state Supreme Court weighs in, while the American Civil Liberties Union argued same-sex couples suffer legal harm if the judge delays a decision.
The arguments came in a hearing on the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Kansas' gay-marriage ban while U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree considers the group's lawsuit on behalf of two lesbian couples.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit earlier this month after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from five states seeking to preserve similar gay-marriage bans after adverse lower-court rulings. The couples were denied marriage licenses in Douglas County in northeast Kansas and in Sedgwick County in south-central Kansas.
One of the women involved, Kerry Wilks, of Wichita, said after the hearing that "one minute is too long to wait" for the right to marry.
"Look me in my eyes. Look me in my human face," Wilks told reporters. "We are people. We want to get married."....
MORE at
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-hold-hearing-kansas-gay-marriage-suit-26592616