Appellate court issues stay on Michigan’s same-sex marriage decision, but not before dozens of couples wed

After first saying it would wait until Tuesday to make a decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suspended gay marriages in Michigan late Saturday afternoon.

The stay was ordered just a day after Federal Judge Bernard Friedman overturned Michigan’s gay marriage ban, declaring it unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage licenses will not be issued through Wednesday, at least, depending on further review by the Cincinnati court. As for whether the marriage licenses issued on Saturday before the stay will be honored, “the courts will have to sort it out,” Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette, said.

Still, couples who raced to Michigan County Clerk offices on Saturday before the stay was issued celebrated their (rushed) moment.

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“We wouldn’t have been here today if it wasn’t for (the threat of a stay),” Lansing resident Joe Bissell, who got a license with his now-husband, Justin Maynard, said. “We would’ve invited friends and not pissed off our mothers.”

Below, images from the flurry of marriages across Michigan on Saturday. --Sarah Eberspacher