An attempt to enact legislation recognizing domestic partnerships as an alternative to marriage for same-sex couples failed in 2013.
[4] Lawsuits have cited this provision when challenging the state's denial of recognition to same-sex marriages established in other jurisdictions.
[16] A domestic partnership bill allowing same-sex couples to "obtain the rights, responsibilities, protections and legal benefits provided in Wyoming for immediate family members" was passed by a House committee on a vote of 7–2 on January 28.
[20] Wyoming Governor Matt Mead said that despite action by the U.S. Supreme Court on October 6, 2014, which left standing as binding precedent on courts in Wyoming rulings of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that found bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Attorney General, Peter K. Michael, "will continue to defend Wyoming's constitution defining marriage between a man and a woman", mistakenly referring to the State Constitution, which does not define marriage.
Clerks in Laramie, Natrona and Teton counties said they had received inquiries about issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but were waiting for a change in state law or an order from a judge.
[23] Governor Mead's office released a statement that the state would decline to appeal the ruling,[24] and notified the court on October 21 of that decision,[25] at which point the judge lifted his stay and same-sex couples began obtaining marriage licenses.
In November 2010, a district judge ruled that he lacked jurisdiction to grant a divorce to two Wyoming women who had married in Canada in 2006.
Its decision said: "Nothing in this opinion should be taken as applying to the recognition of same-sex marriages legally solemnized in a foreign jurisdiction in any context other than divorce.
"[32][33] On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In March 2017, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued a ruling 3–2 discipling a judge, Ruth Neely from Pinedale, who had, in violation of her oath of office, said she would not marry same-sex couples.
Neely had informed a local newspaper in 2015 that she would "not be able to" perform the marriages due to her religious beliefs, and compared homosexuality to alcoholism and theft.
The court rejected Neely's claims but modified her penalty, issuing instead a "public censure" and demanding that she either marry all couples, regardless of sexual orientation, or none.
The first same-sex marriage at the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribal Court in Fort Washakie was registered on November 14, 2014 for Saun and Renee Allen.
[38] While there are no records of same-sex marriages as understood from a Western perspective being performed in Native American cultures, there is evidence for identities and behaviours that may be placed on the LGBT spectrum.
Many of these cultures recognized two-spirit individuals who were born male but wore women's clothing and performed everyday household work and artistic handiwork which were regarded as belonging to the feminine sphere.
[39] Arapaho culture has traditionally regarded two-spirit people as "esteemed persons with special spiritual powers".
[39] The Williams Institute estimated in September 2014 that if marriage were extended to same-sex couples in Wyoming, the state would see an economic boost of $2.4 million over the course of three years.
[43] On October 21, 2015, exactly one year after the ruling in Guzzo v. Mead, the Vital Statistics Services office of the Wyoming Department of Health estimated that 201 marriage licenses had been issued to same-sex couples in the state.