Kansas counties issue same-sex marriage license after court ruling

By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY Kan. (Reuters) - Kansas counties began issuing marriage licenses on Thursday to same-sex couples a day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to delay a federal judge's order that lifted the state's ban. Judge Daniel Crabtree said on Nov. 4 the Kansas ban on same-sex marriage violated the U.S Constitution's due process and equal protection clause and entered a preliminary injunction that required circuit court clerks to issue licenses on Tuesday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined a request by Kansas officials to halt same-sex marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a state request to delay Crabtree's order. One of two same-sex couples who challenged the ban in the federal lawsuit, Kerry Wilks and Donna DiTrani, said they planned to wait to get married until there was finality in the case. "We have to make sure that our court case goes through," Wilks said. "Things will change from hour to hour." Wilks and DiTrani were married in a church and want to be married in the eyes of the state, they said. "We know there are a lot of people planning on marrying. We support them," Wilks said. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, which represented the couples who challenged the Kansas ban, said on Thursday all counties in the state should be issuing licenses to same-sex couples under the federal judge's order. Officials in Sedgwick County, where Wilks and DiTrani live, and in Douglas County said on Thursday they issued licenses to same-sex couples on Thursday following the U.S. Supreme Court announcement. At least one same-sex couple applied on Thursday for a marriage license in Shawnee County, which is home to the state capital, Topeka, an official said. On account of a pending Kansas Supreme Court case, Johnson County, the state's most populous county that includes suburban Kansas City, was not issuing licenses to same-sex couples on Thursday, Chief Deputy Clerk Sandra McCurdy said. The Kansas Supreme Court temporarily blocked Johnson County from issuing licenses to same-sex couples in October on a state request. The state Supreme Court said on Thursday it would deliberate on the issue on Monday. (Reporting by Kevin Murphy, and Alice Mannette in Wichita, Kan.; Editing by Peter Cooney)