A federal judge for the second time has
refused to allow Westboro Baptist Church to intervene in a case
challenging Kansas' ban on gay marriage.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree
first denied Westboro's request in November. He said the church
could file an amicus brief.
After plaintiffs amended their
complaint to add six new plaintiffs and name three new defendants,
Westboro submitted a second request.
Westboro argues that plaintiffs
eventually “will include claims that the government should require
all churches to marry them upon demand” and, therefore, “WBC is
entitled to assert its interests to be protected from being forced to
participate in this soul-crushing nation-destroying state-bankrupting
sin.”
The church also argues that its
religious-based interests are not being represented in the defense
mounted by the state.
“Based on the case's current state,
the Court finds that existing defendants who seek to uphold Kansas
same-sex marriage and recognition bans adequately represent WBC's
interest on the issues currently before the Court,” Crabtree said
in his 9-page
ruling.
Kansas became the 33rd state
to allow gay couples to marry after the Supreme Court last month
refused to delay implementation of Crabtree's ruling striking down
the state's restrictive marriage ban. Officials, however, have
appealed the ruling and only a handful of counties are issuing
marriage licenses to gay couples.
Crabtree dismissed a similar request to
intervene in the case by a straight couple who
claimed that allowing gay couples to marry would be tantamount to
seizing their marriage property.
(Brief
provided by Equality Case Files.)