Two years in, same-sex marriages in S.D. number in the hundreds

Patrick Anderson | Argus Leader

Show Caption Hide Caption Supreme Court: Gay marriage legal in all 50 states The U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in a historic 5-4 ruling. The justices ruled that states cannot deny gay men and lesbians the same marriage rights enjoyed for thousands of years by opposite-sex couples.

She has a piece of paper saying her marriage counts under South Dakota law, but Nancy Rosenbrahn still feels like her rights could be taken away.

The 71-year-old knows she and others are still chastised and punished for their sexual orientation.

“I don’t feel like I can sit in a restaurant with my arm draped around Jen’s back as comfortable as an opposite sex couple,” Rosenbrahn said, referring to her wife.

So two years after the state changed to allow same-sex marriage, Rosenbrahn savors the wedding invites. This year, they fall on dates through the summer and through the fall. The state has sold 283 marriage licenses to same-sex couples since the law changed in June of 2015.

Sioux Falls Pride is Saturday, a festival that also happens to fall close to the two-year anniversary since South Dakota clerk of courts started issuing marriage credentials to gay couples. Ashley Joubert-Gaddis with the Center for Equality was excited that hundreds of South Dakotans have embraced the rights granted to them by the court system.

“I think that number sounds big,” Joubert-Gaddis said. “We’re a small community.”

The busiest month for same-sex licenses issued in the state is the month after the law changed, July 2015, but more couples continue to join their lives through marriage. Same-sex marriage licenses spiked last year in August.

As of Tuesday, five licenses have been issued this month.

►Related: Thousands fly gay pride, show support for Orlando victims

“It was such a foreign idea for us to get married,” Rosenbrahn said. “As their friends get married and they become accustomed to the idea, I think we’re going to see that number grow.”

South Dakota lawmakers long opposed gay marriage. A ban is still written into the state constitution. Rosenbrahn sued the state for the right to marry her wife before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling forced South Dakota and other states to start granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Officials in the state pivoted after the ruling, but continued to voicing their opposition. South Dakota’s attorney general took just two hours to tell agencies that the change was effective immediately. The remaining constitutional language is irrelevant but remains as a vestige of the state’s unwillingness to change.

“The big battle is full equality,” Rosenbrahn said. “Until we have full equality there are so many slights.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Sioux Falls Pride

WHEN: 12 to 6 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Terrace Park, 1100 West 4th Street

For more information, visit http://thecenterforequality.org/sfpride/