A group of same-sex couples in Wyoming challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage seem to have some notable support: the editorial page of the state’s most prominent newspaper and at least a handful of lawmakers in the state legislature.
On Sunday the editorial page of the Casper Star-Tribune published a piece titled “Time for Wyoming to say yes to gay marriage.”
“It’s time to allow same-sex couples to wed in Wyoming,” the editorial board argued. “Changing state law regarding same-sex unions is the right and moral thing to do, it’s increasingly inevitable and it’ll fix a paradox in the law.”
The editorial comes less than two weeks after four same-sex couples filed a lawsuit that challenges the state’s gay on gay marriage. In the lawsuit, the couples argue that Wyoming’s ban violates their equal protection rights.
Besides the Star-Tribune, a group of seven Republican lawmakers in the state legislature also wrote an op-ed piece in support of gay marriage. In the op-ed, titled “Lawmakers: Gay marriage fits Republican values,” the lawmakers write that “As Republicans, we have stood up for lower taxes, protecting seniors and giving veterans the benefits they have earned. We don’t believe that these important tenets should be denied to certain citizens because of whom they are or who they love.”
The lawmakers who wrote the op-ed are Reps. Ruth Ann Petroff, Keith Gingery, Matthias Green, Kathy Coleman, Dan Zwonitzer, David Blevins, and Sen. Michael Von Flatern —all Republicans.
In February the Wyoming House shot down legislation that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry.
