Exclusive KMAN interview audio with Darci Bohnenblust
A Riley County couple who applied for a marriage license in their home county have been denied at this time. Darci Bohnenblust tells KMAN she and her partner, Joleen Hickman, just found out Friday morning that the application had been denied. However Bohnenblust is optimistic the time will come when they can get a license in Riley County.
Hickman was born and raised in Riley County and Bohnenblust, who works at Kansas State University, has lived here much of her life. The two had been told Thursday there was a three day waiting period but that they could come back Tuesday to pick up their license. But Friday morning they received an order from Judge Meryl Wilson that denied the license.
The application will be held for a year, and if anything changes the couple will be notified.
Bohnenblust admits it’s “disheartening” but she anticipates it will eventually come through.
Johnson County has issued a license for a same sex couple. That came two days after district court Chief Judge Kevin Moriarty directed clerks and other judges to begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples even though the Kansas Constitution bans gay marriage under a provision voters approved in 2005.
Moriarty acted after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from five other states seeking to preserve their gay-marriage bans.
