Michigan Sees First Gay Weddings

Couples get hitched day after judge's ruling
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2014 11:55 AM CDT
Michigan Sees First Gay Weddings
Pennye Mattson, right, places a wedding ring on Sherrie Tyler's finger while being married in a group by the Oakland County clerk in Pontiac, Mich., Saturday.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Gay couples in Michigan wasted little time taking advantage of yesterday's court ruling that cleared the way for same-sex marriages in the state. The honors for Michigan's first went to Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 52, a Lansing couple who were wed just after 8am by the county clerk in Ingham County, reports the Detroit Free Press. County clerks elsewhere in the state also opened their doors on the weekend for the occasion. "To be on the other side of history right now is joyous," DeJong tells the Detroit News.

It's possible that all those who get married today will end up in a legal limbo familiar to gay couples in other states. Michigan's attorney general has asked the 6th Circuit Court to stay yesterday's decision by Judge Bernard Friedman that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. If the court agrees, the ban would once again be in effect as the case winds through the appeals process. But for the moment, at least, Michigan is the 18th state to legalize gay weddings. (More Michigan stories.)

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