Michigan counties begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Michigan counties begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses
(Image credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Less than a day after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman issued a 31-page ruling declaring Michigan’s gay-marriage ban unconstitutional, couples began receiving marriage licenses this morning, and East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett was at one courthouse to document the moment:

See more

Attorney General Bill Schuette is seeking an emergency stay from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, so several county clerk offices opened today in lieu of regular Monday-Friday schedules in order to issue the same-sex marriage licenses.

“So many people have been waiting long enough,” Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum told the Detroit Free Press. “The more I thought about it, the more absurd it seemed to make them wait until Monday morning.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.