Jonathan Shorman

The (Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader

The ACLU%27s planned lawsuit comes less than a month after a federal judge struck down Oklahoma%27s ban on same-sex marriage

Lawsuit will include couples from Kansas City%2C St. Louis%2C mid-Missouri and Springfield

Any decision that finds Missouri%27s ban unconstitutional will likely anger state lawmakers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The ACLU, on behalf of gay couples throughout Missouri, plans to sue this week for recognition of same-sex marriage.

Stephanie Perkins, deputy director for PROMO, a Missouri gay and lesbian advocacy group, said the litigation seeks to overturn Missouri's ban on same-sex marriage.

Couples from Kansas City, St. Louis, mid-Missouri and Springfield are included in the suit, which will be filed in state court in Kansas City.

Charles Abernathy, spokesman for the GLO Center in Springfield, said a news conference involving the ACLU litigation has been scheduled at the GLO Center for Wednesday.

Abernathy said that while GLO will be the venue, PROMO is taking the lead on the event.

The litigation comes less than a month after a federal judge struck down Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage. The ban is similar to Missouri's prohibition on same-sex marriage.

Missouri voters approved the ban in 2004 — 71 percent to 29 percent — the same year Oklahoma approved its ban. The bans in both states are amendments to the state constitutions.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern said Oklahoma's ban violates the U.S. Constitution. Kern ruled the amendment violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, calling the ban "an arbitrary, irrational exclusion of just one class of Oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit."

Kevin Pybas, a constitutional law professor at Missouri State University, said the plaintiffs are likely making a calculated decision by filing in state, rather than federal, court.

"They're probably forum shopping. There's probably multiple state court judges that would be sympathetic to the position," Pybas said.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision this past summer striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, which had prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage, had the effect of inviting lawsuits attacking prohibitions on same-sex marriage, Pybas said.

Any decision that finds Missouri's ban unconstitutional will likely anger state lawmakers. House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, opposes gay marriage.

"My position is my position. I personally do not understand how marriage can be defined other than between a man and a woman. That is the definition of marriage. All these other things, I think they're trying to call it something else and force it into the definition of marriage, which I think is an improper argument to even have, logically," Jones said last year.

A handful of lawmakers are also seeking to impeach Gov. Jay Nixon for an executive order issued in November allowing same-sex couples legally married in other states but living in Missouri to file joint federal tax returns.