Same-sex marriage in Missouri has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in '' Obergefell v. Hodges'', which struck down state bans on marriages between two people of the same sex on June 26, 2015. Prior to the court ruling, the state recognized

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

s from other jurisdictions pursuant to a state court ruling in October 2014, and certain jurisdictions of the state performed same-sex marriage despite a statewide ban. On November 5, 2014, a state court ruling striking down

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

's same-sex marriage ban ordered St. Louis to issue

marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdiction ...

s to same-sex couples. In response to this ruling, St. Louis County also began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On November 7, 2014, a federal court ruling striking down Missouri's same-sex marriage ban stayed its order directing Jackson County to issue licenses to same-sex couples. Despite the stay, Jackson County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately following the ruling. Assessing the state of same-sex marriage litigation in December 2014, Marc Solomon of

Freedom to Marry Freedom to Marry was the national bipartisan organization dedicated to winning marriage for same-sex couples in the United States. Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson. Wolfson served as president of the organi ...

said, "Missouri is the most complex state on this issue."

Restrictions on same-sex unions

In August 2004, 71% of Missouri voters ratified Amendment 2, which restricted the validity and recognition of

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

in Missouri to the "union of one man and one woman". State

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

s also banned same-sex marriage. In December 2022, Representative Chris Sander introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal the ban. Sander said, "My intent with the language is to have the Missouri Constitution in line with federal law because I believe federal law is the correct ruling. This country has a history of saying who can't get married in an ugly way." The amendment requires approval in both the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the House of Representatives before being placed on the

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16 ...

for approval by voters.

Recognition of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions

Missouri statutes prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriages validity performed in other jurisdictions. This provision is now unenforceable. On November 14, 2013, Governor Jay Nixon issued an executive order allowing same-sex couples married in other jurisdictions to file a combined Missouri income

tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one ...

if they file their federal return jointly. Four conservatives, three associated with the Missouri Baptist Convention and one a former St. Charles County Executive associated with

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

, filed ''Messer v. Nixon'' in Cole County Circuit Court on January 8, 2014, seeking to prevent the practice. The lawsuit was unsuccessful.

''Barrier v. Vasterling''

The

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

(ACLU) filed a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

, ''Barrier v. Vasterling'', challenging the state's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions in state circuit court on February 11, 2014, on behalf of eight same-sex couples, later joined by two more. Oral arguments were held on September 2 before Judge J. Dale Youngs in the Jackson County Circuit Court in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

. On October 3, Judge Youngs ruled that Missouri's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions violated the plaintiffs' right to equal protection under both the state and federal constitutions. He ordered the state to recognize such marriages and held the state responsible for the plaintiffs' legal expenses. On October 6, the Missouri Attorney General, Chris Koster, announced the state would not appeal the decision. Members of the Missouri General Assembly sought to intervene in the suit and appeal the decision, but the court rejected their petition as filed too late for the court to act.

Lawsuits

Federal cases

''Lawson v. Kelly''

In June 2014, Jackson County denied

s to two same-sex couples, which provided, according to Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, a better vehicle for a lawsuit than the St. Louis case. On June 24, the ACLU filed ''Lawson v. Kelly'' in Jackson County circuit court on behalf of the two same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses there. Jackson County officials said it was up to the Attorney General to defend the state's position. Attorney General Koster intervened and had the case moved to federal district court. U.S. District Court Judge Ortrie D. Smith ruled for the plaintiffs on November 7, finding that Missouri's ban denied the plaintiffs their fundamental right to marry and discriminated against them on the basis of

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

, but not on the basis of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

. He ordered only Jackson County to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and stayed his order pending conclusion of any appeal. Despite the stay, Jackson County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately following the decision. On November 21, the plaintiffs asked Judge Smith to lift his stay given that St. Louis had been ordered to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in ''State of Missouri v. Florida'' and noting that the state took no position on the request. He refused on November 25, noting that licenses might be issued "that could later be determined to have been issued in error" if his decision was reversed. Attorney General Koster filed a notice of

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 5. On December 8, the same-sex couples also filed a notice of appeal to contest the district court's rejection of their claim of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. On December 10, the couples asked the Eighth Circuit to vacate the district court's stay or hear their appeal on an expedited basis. On December 20, the couples asked the Eighth Circuit to consider their request to vacate the stay in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal the previous day to grant a stay in a

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

case, '' Armstrong v. Brenner''. The state replied to the couples' motion on December 24, calling the request for expedited consideration premature given the likelihood that in January the U.S. Supreme Court would agree to hear a same-sex marriage case. The state's brief did not mention the district court's stay. On January 9, 2015, the couples asked the Eighth Circuit for a "prompt ruling" on their request, noting that the state had offered no argument against lifting the stay and that the Supreme Court had not accepted a petition for ''

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

'' in a same-sex marriage case that day. They wrote: "there is no equitable reason to hold the current case in perpetual limbo". On January 21, the state asked the court to suspend proceedings pending action by the U.S. Supreme Court in similar same-sex marriage cases. The couples supported that request only if the court lifted the stay. On January 22, the court refused both to lift the stay and to suspend proceedings. It agreed to expedite the case. On February 9, the plaintiff couples again asked the Eighth Circuit to lift the stay, citing the Supreme Court's refusal to grant a stay in ''Searcy v. Strange'', a same-sex marriage case from Alabama.

''Obergefell v. Hodges''

On June 26, 2015, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in '' Obergefell v. Hodges'' that same-sex marriage bans violate the

Due Process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual per ...

and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, the plaintiffs asked the Eighth Circuit to lift the stay, and the state asked the court to dismiss its appeal of the district court decision. As a result, same-sex couples began immediately marrying throughout Missouri. On July 7, 2015, Governor Jay Nixon issued "Executive Order 15-04", ordering all state departments and agencies to immediately take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the ''Obergefell'' decision.

State cases

''State of Missouri v. Florida''

In June 2014, St. Louis officials licensed four same-sex marriages in order to provide the basis for a lawsuit when the state ordered them to stop the practice. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison held a hearing in the suit, originally ''State of Missouri v. Carpenter'', on September 29 in state circuit court. He ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on November 5, ruling that Missouri's refusal to license same-sex marriages violated the Missouri and federal constitutions. Attorney General Koster announced plans to appeal the ruling to the

Missouri Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to ...

, but not to seek a stay of the ruling's implementation because " llowing decisions in Idaho and Alaska, the United States Supreme Court has refused to grant stays on identical facts." Attorney General Koster and the Recorders' Association of Missouri said Judge Burlison's order only applied to the city of St. Louis, where the city's marriage license department began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. St. Louis County, where an official said "We believe it's a county-by-county decision", began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples the next day.

''In re Marriage of M.S.''

After a circuit court in St. Louis County denied him a divorce '' sua sponte'', a man married in Iowa to a man now incarcerated in a Missouri prison appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court on March 13, 2014, which heard oral arguments on December 3. The state Supreme Court reversed the lower court's decision on February 10, 2015, holding that the circuit court had

subject-matter jurisdiction Subject-matter jurisdiction (also called jurisdiction ''ratione materiae')'' is the authority of a court to hear cases of a particular type or cases relating to a specific subject matter. For instance, bankruptcy court only has the authority ...

because the plain language of the Missouri Constitution provides that Missouri circuit courts have jurisdiction over all civil cases and matters (and a petition for dissolution of marriage is a civil case), and remanded the case back to the lower court. In February 2014, a Boone County judge granted a

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

to two women, Dena and Samantha Latimer, who had married in Massachusetts in 2009.

Marriage statistics

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has collected data on the number of same-sex marriages performed in Missouri since 2016, as shown in the table below. Jackson County, St. Louis County and St. Louis together account for about half of all Missouri same-sex marriages, with Greene, St. Charles, Boone,

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref ...

, Jefferson and Cape Girardeau counties together accounting for about one-fourth. As of 2019, no same-sex marriage has taken place in Montgomery,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and Shelby counties. Data for 2015 is incomplete as several counties continued to issue licenses with the terms "groom" and "bride" until they were updated for 2016. The state recorded 471 marriages between two women and 255 marriages between two men in 2015. The median age at marriage was higher for same-sex spouses than for opposite-sex spouses in 2015, at 39.9 years to 30.3 years.

Public opinion

{, class="wikitable" , +style="font-size:100%" , Public opinion for same-sex marriage in Missouri , - ! style="width:190px;", Poll source ! style="width:200px;", Date(s)
administered ! class=small , Sample
size ! Margin of
error ! style="width:100px;", % support ! style="width:100px;", % opposition ! style="width:40px;", % no opinion , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
March 8–November 9, 2021
, align=center, ? , align=center, ? , align=center, 65% , align=center, 35% , align=center, <0.5% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
January 7–December 20, 2020
, align=center, 816 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, 62% , align=center, 33% , align=center, 5% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
April 5–December 23, 2017
, align=center, 1,505 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, 58% , align=center, 35% , align=center, 7% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
May 18, 2016–January 10, 2017
, align=center, 2,171 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, 51% , align=center, 41% , align=center, 8% , -
Public Religion Research Institute
, align=center
April 29, 2015–January 7, 2016
, align=center, 1,761 random telephone
interviewees , align=center, ? , align=center, ''48%'' , align=center, 45% , align=center, 7% , -
New York Times/CBS News/YouGov
, align=center, September 20–October 1, 2014 , align=center, 1,226 likely voters , align=center, ± 3.6% , align=center, 41% , align=center, ''47%'' , align=center, 13% , -
Public Policy Polling
, align=center, May 24–27, 2012 , align=center, 602 voters , align=center, ± 4% , align=center, 36% , align=center, 52% , align=center, 12% , -
Public Policy Polling
, align=center, September 9–12, 2011 , align=center, 632 voters , align=center, ± 3.9% , align=center, 32% , align=center, 59% , align=center, 9% , -

References

External links

''Lawson v. Kelly''
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, November 7, 2014
''State of Missouri v. Florida''
Missouri Circuit Court 22nd Judicial Circuit, November 5, 2014
''Barrier v. Vasterling''
Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, October 3, 2014 {{Same-sex marriage in the United States 2014 in LGBT history 2015 in LGBT history

LGBT rights in Missouri 2014 in Missouri 2015 in Missouri