Same sex marriage in Missouri

Restrictions

In August 2004, 71% of Missouri voters ratified Amendment 2, which restricted the validity and recognition of marriage in Missouri to the union of one man and one woman.

Recognition of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions

Missouri recognizes same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions.

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 if they file their federal return jointly. Four conservatives, three associated with the Missouri Baptist Convention and one a former St. Charles County Executive now tied to Focus on the Family, filed Messer v. Nixon in Cole County Circuit Court on January 8, 2014, seeking to prevent the practice.

Barrier v. Vasterling

The ACLU filed a lawsuit, 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 25, before Judge J. Dale Youngs in Jackson County Circuit Court in Kansas City. 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, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced the state would not appeal the decision.

Members of the Missouri legislature 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.

Lawson v. Kelly

In June 2014, Jackson County denied marriage licenses 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 two same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses there. Jackson County officials said it was up to the state attorney general to defend the state's position. Missouri Attorney General Chris 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, but not on the basis of sexual orientation. 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 notice of appeal in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 5. On December 8, the same-sex couples also filed 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 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 will 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 accept a petition for certiorari 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 that day in Searcy v. Strange (Alabama).

U.S. Supreme Court decision

On June 26, 2015, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the plaintiffs asked the Eighth Circuit to lift its 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 Nixon issued Executive Order 15-04, ordering all departments and agencies of Missouri to immediately take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the Obergefell decision.

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 violates the Missouri and federal constitutions. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced plans to appeal the ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court, but not to seek a stay of the ruling's implementation because "[f]ollowing 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. and D.S.

After a trial court in St Louis County denied him a divorce, 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 argument on December 3. In February 2014, a Boone County judge granted a divorce to two women who wed in Massachusetts in 2009.