Katie Belanger, president and CEO of the gay-rights group Fair Wisconsin, said the last time the law was invoked was in a 2001 marriage of a straight couple who were seeking to avoid the state’s waiting period for finalizing a divorce.

Belanger said she’d never heard of the law being used against a same-sex couple, and most people, gay or straight, probably aren’t aware it exists.

Still, with same-sex marriage rights granted just across the borders with Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, it seems only logical that opponents of the practice would see the marriage evasion law a valuable weapon in their fight.

Or maybe not.

A spokeswoman for state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who has vowed to “vigorously” defend the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage in court, declined to comment on the marriage evasion law’s history, use or potential use.

And Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, which campaigned for the gay marriage ban, declined to say whether the law should be applied to same-sex couples.