The first of many same sex marriage licenses in Michigan was issued this morning in Ingham county.
"Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 52, both of Lansing, were married in the [county clerk's] lobby" after they were issued the license.
Clerks who handle marriage licenses in at least four of Michigan’s 83 counties said they would start granting them to gays and lesbians as early as Saturday. Before offices in Oakland, Washtenaw, Ingham and Muskegon counties opened their doors, dozens of couples were lined up, eagerly waiting hand-and-hand for their chance to be legally united.
The ruling came down late on Friday from U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman in a case brought by April DeBoer and Jane Rowse. Friedman did not stay his decision until an appeal could be filed. This set off the rush to apply for licenses in the four counties that decided to open today. The decision was handed down after the close of state business yesterday.
Friedman rejected the state's argument that Michigan voters adopted a ban on same sex marriage because heterosexual married couples constituted the best method for raising children.
There is no proof that such a premise is true, Friedman wrote, and he declared the testimony of the state’s main witness “entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration.”
...
“The funder [of the study] clearly wanted a certain result, and [the state's main witness] Regnerus obliged.”
Oh, yeah ...
Friedman, 70, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and took senior status in 2009, said the state’s defense of the law was misguided. “In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people,’ state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people.”
Here's the thing, though. A judge overturned Utah's ban on same sex marriage too. Licenses were issued and marriages occurred. After the Supreme Court ordered a stay on that ruling, those marriages were not recognized.
"The state does not recognize the licenses that were issued prior to the Supreme Court’s grant of the stay," wrote Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette about Utah in his emergency request to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay execution of Friedman's ruling.
"In addition to those whose licenses are no longer valid, individuals who planned ceremonies were not able to complete them, and financial and family planning decisions made upon the assumption that the state would recognize same-sex marriage licenses are now a nullity. Should a stay not be granted, marriage licenses would be issued under a cloud of uncertainty, the State would face administrative burdens, and actions taken in reliance on the licenses would impact employers, creditors, and others."
So, licenses have been issued in Michigan and at least one marriage has taken place. The question remains: Will the marriages ultimately be recognized?
The march of history can be excrutiatingly slow.
4:33 PM PT: Sadly, the 6th Circuit has imposed a stay on further licenses. No word yet on the fate of those already married ...