The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday expanded its lawsuit challenging the state of Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriage by asking a federal judge to order the state to recognize marriages that have already been performed here and in other states.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., the ACLU is seeking a temporary injunction to block the state from denying legally married same-sex couples the right to file joint tax returns, to obtain family coverage under the State Employee Health Plan, and to obtain driver’s licenses reflecting their married names.

“This isn’t some reward that gay couples are getting. It isn’t special treatment. All we want is to be treated just like very other married couple,” said James Peters, a Kansas University employee and one of the new plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office said he would continue to defend the state’s ban on gay marriage.

“The courts will continue to sort this out, and as they do the attorney general’s office will continue to defend our clients and the Kansas Constitution,” Schmidt’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Rapp, said in an email.

Peters and his husband, Gary Mohrman, were married in Iowa in July 2010. Peters is director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Kansas University and receives health insurance through the State Employee Health Plan. Mohrman is self-employed and buys coverage through the federal exchange under the Affordable Care Act.

Peters said he could get better and more affordable coverage for his husband through the state plan, but the state won’t allow him to add his husband to the family policy because the state does not recognize marriages of same-sex couples.

The two other couples who have joined the suit include Carrie L. Fowler and Sarah C. Braun, of McLouth; and Darci Jo Bohnenblust and Colleen Hickman, of Riley.

The motion seeks temporary injunctions against Nick Jordan, Kansas secretary of revenue; Lisa Kaspar, director of the Division of Motor Vehicles; and Mike Michaels, director of the State Employee Health Plan.

In October, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of two other Kansas couples, challenging the state’s refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

On Nov. 5, Judge Daniel Crabtree granted a temporary injunction against the district court clerks in Douglas and Sedgwick counties, ordering them to grant such licenses even though the case is still pending.

An appeal of that injunction is pending before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 12 refused to extend a stay of the injunction, and so same-sex couples in those counties have been allowed to get marriage licenses since then.

Some other counties also have begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, including Johnson County, where the Kansas Supreme Court recently allowed gay marriages to go forward. But other counties have declined to do so, saying they will continue enforcing the current law until there is a clear decision declaring the state’s ban unconstitutional.

But the state of Kansas still does not recognize the marriages that have been performed in Kansas, or those performed legally in other states that already allow same-sex marriage.

Last year, the Kansas Department of Revenue issued a notice saying that same-sex couples must file separate state income tax returns, even though they are allowed to file jointly on their federal returns.

In addition, if one of the spouses in a same-sex marriage changes his or her last name, the state still requires that person to use his or her original name on a driver’s license.