A bill that would have barred government officials from recognizing same-sex marriages performed outside the state was defeated in the Wyoming Senate yesterday. Gay marriage isn’t legal in the state of Wyoming, nut the state does recognize civil unions that were legally performed in states that recognize marriage between same sex couples. House Bill 74, titled Validity of Marriages, would have made it so that same-sex couples who have been legally married would become unrecognized as married.
House Bill 74 failed 14-16 in the Senate, after members of the House approved it on a 31-28 vote earlier in the day.
Rep. Ruth Petroff, R-Jackson, asked the House to vote against HB 74. “This bill does nothing more than to strip away liberties that have been granted by other states,” she said. “We go from being the Equality State to the Strip-Away-Liberty State.”