TODAY: Tenth Circuit Court Of Appeals Hears Oklahoma Marriage Equality Suit

The longest-pending marriage equality lawsuit in the nation gets its hearing today before the Tenth Circuit Court.  Here's how it got started ten years ago:

On November 3, 2004, private lawyers in Tulsa filed a federal lawsuit (formerly, Bishop v. United States) in the 10th Circuit on behalf of two same-sex couples seeking an injunction against the United States for enforcing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and against Oklahoma for enforcing its laws restricting the freedom to marry to different-sex couples. The lead plaintiffs, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, hail from Tulsa and have been together for 17 years. Another couple, Gay Phillips and Susan Barton, are legally married in Canada and have a civil union in Vermont, are also listed as plaintiffs.

As with the Utah case that the Tenth Circuit heard last week, an audio file of the hearing will be posted later today. The same three-judge panel that heard the Utah case will hear today's Oklahoma case, so we can expect another "sharply divided" report.