Wyoming becomes latest state to legalize gay marriage

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming has become the latest state to allow same-sex unions, bringing the wave of gay rights to a state where the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard continues to influence national perceptions.

The gay college student was robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence in freezing weather. He died Oct. 12, days after the attack, in a slaying that galvanized a national push for gay rights and tough penalties for hate crimes.

Today, however, gay couples began to apply for marriage licenses shortly after the state began to recognize same-sex unions, albeit far more quietly than in other states that have recently seen bans struck down.

Hundreds of gay couples in Idaho and Nevada flooded clerk's offices and courthouses and married immediately afterward in front of cheering crowds.

In Wyoming's largest city, Cheyenne, two couples were licensed as the change went into effect. About 175 miles north, in Casper, Dirk Andrews and Travis Gray were the first of three couples licensed after the state formally dropped its defense of a law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.