Three gay couples, two of them lesbian,
are planning to file a federal lawsuit challenging South Dakota's ban
on gay marriage.
On Saturday, Minnesota Mayor Betsy
Hodges will preside over the wedding of Nancy Robrahn, 68, and Jennie
Rosenkranz, 72, of Rapid City. The women have been together 27
years.
Lawmakers in 1996 approved a law
prohibiting same sex couples from marrying. A decade later, voters
approved a constitutional amendment reinforcing the law.
The Pennington County clerk in Rapid
City denied the women a South Dakota marriage license. Following
their big day, the women plan to ask the clerk for a legal name
change.
The two other couples are two men who
plan on marrying soon in Iowa and a lesbian couple who married in
Connecticut.
Attorney General Marty Jackley, a
Republican, has already said that he will defend the ban in court.
“It is the statutory responsibility
of the attorney general to defend both our state constitution and
statutory laws, which I intend to do if a lawsuit is filed,”
Jackley
told the AP.
According to the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), only four states remain without an active lawsuit challenging
marriage equality bans. Once the South Dakota case is filed, the
remaining states will be Alaska, Montana and North Dakota.