A straight couple attempting to
intervene in a federal case challenging Kansas' ban on gay marriage
claims allowing such unions would be tantamount to seizing their
property.
On Wednesday, Philip and Sandra Unruh
filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing that marriage
equality would violate their 5th Amendment rights.
According to the AP, a hearing in the
case scheduled for Friday was canceled and plaintiffs have until
Monday to file last-minute briefs.
“The Unruhs have an inalienable
property right in their marriage that is protected by the 5th
Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Kansas Constitution
and related Kansas Statutes,” states
the brief, provided by Equality
Case Files.
“If the Plaintiffs are successful in
their causes of action, the meaning of marriage will be so
fundamentally and profoundly changed that the Unruh's will experience
a taking of their property rights in marriage without due process of
law.”
The couple contends that allowing gay
couples to marry would be “a departure from the joy and celebration
normally associated with the word marriage.”
Kansas is one of three holdout states
that are refusing to comply with appellate court rulings declaring
state marriage bans unconstitutional. The other two states are South
Carolina and Montana.
(Related: Kansas
Gov. Sam Brownback vows to defend state's gay marriage ban.)