Monday, July 14, 2025
ADVT 
International

Same-sex marriages now allowed and recognized in Wyoming for first time

Darpan News Desk Darpan, 21 Oct, 2014 11:45 AM
    CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wyoming is now allowing and recognizing same-sex marriages.
     
    Attorneys for the state filed notice Tuesday morning that they would not challenge a federal judge's ruling striking down a Wyoming law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
     
    Not many same-sex couples were expected to be lining up right away to exchange wedding vows simply because Wyoming, the least populated state in the nation, doesn't have a large number of same-sex couples ready to marry.
     
    The Williams Institute, a national think-tank at the UCLA school of law, released a study last month saying there were about 700 same-sex couples in Wyoming and that maybe about 200 would choose to marry within the first year of being able to do so under the changed state status.
     
    Jeran Artery, of Wyoming Equality, said he knew of one same-sex couple making plans to wed Tuesday evening in Cheyenne.
     
    The Laramie County Clerk's Office in Cheyenne, the state's biggest city, had just five same-sex couple applications pending.
     
    Now that the change has become official county clerks around the state are allowed to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and the state will recognize the marriages of gay couples done legally elsewhere.
     
    Wyoming is the latest politically conservative state to allow same-sex marriages.
     
    The change is particularly notable in Wyoming, which had been better known as the state where a gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, was robbed, tied to a fence and beaten in 1998 in a rural area outside Laramie. Shepard died days later on Oct. 12, 1998, and two men were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
     
    Shepard's murder galvanized a national push for enhancing penalties for those convicted of targeting victims because of their sexual orientation or race.
     
    The Rev. Dee Lundberg, pastor of the United Church of Christ in Casper, said she has married about 10 couples who have not had their marriages legally recognized by the state.
     
    "For me nothing really changes except when I do a same-sex couple there's the joy of being able to have full legal rights, which I think is a huge issue for emotionally and spiritually just validating families," Lundberg said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Pakistan again raises Kashmir in UN

    Pakistan again raises Kashmir in UN
    Raising the Kashmir issue yet again at the UN, Pakistan dragged the UN Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) into the current situation along the Line of Control where cross-border shelling has flared up....

    Pakistan again raises Kashmir in UN

    Twitter sues US government over surveillance rights

    Twitter sues US government over surveillance rights
    Twitter has sued the US government for restricting the microblogging site from sharing online government surveillance reports with its users....

    Twitter sues US government over surveillance rights

    Teacher banned for sending topless selfie to student

    Teacher banned for sending topless selfie to student
    A British teacher has been banned from teaching for five years for sending her bare-breasted pictures to a 16-year-old student....

    Teacher banned for sending topless selfie to student

    US federal court revokes ban on same-sex marriages

    US federal court revokes ban on same-sex marriages
    A federal court in the US has passed a ruling revoking the ban on same-sex marriages in Idaho and Nevada a day after the country's Supreme Court...

    US federal court revokes ban on same-sex marriages

    Ebola Escapes Europe's Defences: Madrid Scrambles To Contain The Virus; Orders Dog Killed

    Ebola Escapes Europe's Defences: Madrid Scrambles To Contain The Virus; Orders Dog Killed
    Health officials scrambled Tuesday to figure out how West Africa's Ebola outbreak got past Europe's defences, quarantining four people at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nursing assistant became infected.

    Ebola Escapes Europe's Defences: Madrid Scrambles To Contain The Virus; Orders Dog Killed

    Sad that India unable to restrain forces: Pakistan

    Sad that India unable to restrain forces: Pakistan
    Pakistan Tuesday said it is "sad" that India "has not been able to restrain its forces despite strong diplomatic protest by Pakistan" and called upon the Indian government...

    Sad that India unable to restrain forces: Pakistan