Section 451.022

Title XXX DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Chapter 451

Effective - 28 Aug 2001   

  451.022.  Public policy, same sex marriages prohibited — license may not be issued. — 1.  It is the public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.

  2.  Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid.

  3.  No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman.

  4.  A marriage between persons of the same sex will not be recognized for any purpose in this state even when valid where contracted.

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(L. 1996 S.B. 768 § 6, A.L. 2001 H.B. 157)

(1998) Section is unconstitutional because title of bill was not clearly stated and bill contained more than one subject.  St. Louis Health Care Network v. State, 968 S.W.2d 145 (Mo.banc).

(2014) Section is unconstitutional under the federal due process clause as significantly interfering with the fundamental right of marriage and creates a gender-based classification that is unconstitutional under the federal equal protection clause. Lawson v. Kelly, 58 F.Supp.3d 923 (W.D.Mo.).

(2014) The right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S.Ct. 2584.