Florida to begin recognizing same-sex marriages following Supreme Court stay denial

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request on Friday from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to extend a stay preventing gay marriages in the state, The Miami Herald reports.

Florida can thus begin recognizing same-sex marriages on Jan. 6, after the current stay expires on Jan. 5. The court's two-sentence denial noted that Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas, to whom the request was originally presented, would have granted the extension.

What remains unclear is whether Florida's county clerks will actually issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; Bondi has appealed the case to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but it has not been heard yet.

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