MOBBY: The first bill to pass Missouri’s legislative session would legalize same-sex marriage.
It is expected to pass the Senate next week, and Gov.
Jay Nixon is expected in St. Louis next week for the signing ceremony.
But there is a delay in the state Senate from the start of its first session because it is scheduled to convene Monday.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would amend the Missouri Constitution to allow same-gender couples to marry.
“This is an important step forward for marriage equality in Missouri, and I applaud the senators who are working so diligently to bring this important law to the governor’s desk for signature,” Nixon said in a statement.
The Senate is scheduled for its second session on Tuesday.
The first session is expected for April 6.
The bill passed the Senate last week.
Missouri is one of 18 states where same- sex couples can get married, although the state has not issued a license to any same- gender couple.
It has also not issued marriage licenses to same- or opposite-sex couples since 2014.
In February, Missouri became the 10th state to recognize same- and opposite-gender marriages.
Same-sex marriages have been legal in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to married same- age couples in 2009.
Read more on the Supreme Court.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has been lobbying to get same-party marriage legalized in Missouri.
On Monday, the group filed a lawsuit in the U, District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to have the state’s constitutional amendment on same-person marriage be struck down.
The state Supreme Court has said it cannot review the case.
