Same-sex couples plan mass wedding in Kansas on Monday

By Alice Mannette WICHITA Kan. (Reuters) - More than a dozen same-sex couples plan to be married in a mass wedding ceremony outside a courthouse in Wichita on Monday now that such marriages are legal in Kansas, a minister said on Friday. "This is a way to help bring everyone together," said Reverend Jackie Carter of the First Metropolitan Community Church in Wichita, who is organizing the event. Benjamin Breese, 58, and his partner have waited 12 years to tie the knot and will be among the couples marrying Monday evening on the steps of the Sedgwick County Courthouse, he said. "I can finally say legally, 'I do,'" Breese said. "We will finally be legally protected." Breese said he and his partner have had to get power of attorney during medical emergencies because they have not been allowed to marry. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to delay a federal judge's order that lifted the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Judge Daniel Crabtree said the Kansas ban violated the U.S Constitution's due process and equal protection clause. Some Kansas counties are not issuing licenses to same-sex couples because of issues still pending in federal and state court challenges to the state ban on gay marriage. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says Crabtree's order was limited to Sedgwick and Douglas counties, which were the direct subjects of the case before the judge. Marriage licenses are not being issued to same-sex couples in Johnson County in suburban Kansas City while the state Supreme Court considers a separate case involving the Kansas ban on same-sex marriages. The court is set to deliberate the issue on Monday. Including Kansas, same-sex marriage is now legal in 33 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia. Carter said she has been contacted by 17 couples and expects dozens more to participate in the mass wedding on Monday. Martin Wilson, of Wichita, said he will more fully enjoy fatherhood when he is finally able to marry his partner and officially become a step-parent to two teenagers he helped raise. "This will complete our lives together," said Wilson, 33. (Reporting by Alice Mannette in Wichita; Editing by Kevin Murphy and Mohammad Zargham)