Recently released reports show that 154 same-sex couples wed in Kansas during a volatile period in late 2014, months before the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling that legalized the unions nationwide.
Newly compiled data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment show that those unions made up less than 1 percent of the 17,655 marriages statewide in 2014. The agency says marriage data so far for 2015 isn't yet available.
Tom Witt of the gay rights group Equality Kansas says roadblocks to marriage in 2014 were "substantial," but he expects far more same-sex unions this year.
Confusion reigned in Kansas after the U.S. Supreme Court in October turned away appeals from five states seeking to retain gay-marriage bans. One was in the same federal appeals court circuit as Kansas.
