Suing Wyoming

David Shupe-Roderick and Ryan W. Dupree of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Wyoming law that defines marriage as existing only between a man and a woman.

The two men attempted to obtain a marriage license, but the Laramie County Clerk's Office has refused to issue them one, and so they are asking U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson to stop the state from enforcing any laws that block gays and lesbians from access to civil marriage.

David Shupe-Roderick:“I’ve tried to kind of not rock the boat, so to speak, but there comes a time in everyone’s life when there are things that are wrong and you have a moral duty to stand up and you have to advocate for what’s right. I think Ryan and I agree that this is something that is wrong, and it’s something that needs to be changed.”

But there is an odd little hitch in their story: Laramie County Clerk Debbye Lathrop said she never met with Shupe-Roderick or Dupree on the issue and could find no one in her office who knows anything about denying a marriage license to the men, adding, “We’re totally in the dark about this.”

Even more odd, while Wyoming law says that only marriages between a man and a woman may be conducted in the state, Wyoming does recognize marriages performed in other states, some of which allow same-sex marriages and civil unions.

That is another odd thing. Two men, or two women, cannot legally marry in Wyoming, but if they legally marry in, say Iowa, Wyoming must recognize their union. It seems like an easy hop-skip-and-a-jump from there to legalizing same-sex marriage, doesn't it?

And in fact, just last year the Wyoming Legislature rejected a proposal--a Wyoming DOMA, if you will--that would have let Wyoming voters decide whether to amend the state constitution to specify that the state wouldn’t recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

Come on, Wyoming, you're almost there. You recognize gay marriages, so you ought to legalize them for your own citizens.