OLATHE, Kan. — The United States Supreme Court may have legalized gay marriage, but a metro same-sex couple says the Kansas Department of Revenue has denied a name change on their driver’s license.
Jessica Faulkenberry married her wife, Brianna Fesmire, last November and the couple wear their marriage rings proudly. It’s a huge symbol of marriage for these high school sweethearts.
That’s also why Faulkenberry wants to take on Fesmire’s last name. But she hit a roadblock at the driver’s license office.
“I was not expecting to get told no at all. It was very shocking to me,” she says.
The Supreme Court ruled to legalize gay marriage but the state of Kansas isn’t allowing same sex couples to change their last names on driver’s licenses.
“She said it said bride and bride and you’re same sex. We’re still going through files, we haven’t gotten an email yet saying that we could do this so we can’t,” Faulkenberry says.
The Department of Revenue says its in the process of reviewing the Supreme Court decision and won’t know when couples will be able to change their driver’s license. It’s a huge blow for the couple.
“It feels like my marriage isn’t legal and that I shouldn’t have the same right as everybody else,” says Faulkenberry.
It’s already a problem for Faulkenberry, who changed her Social Security card and now has two different names on government-issued identification cards.
Since her Social Security card is already changed, she says she’s going by the name Jessica Fesmire.
