Wasting taxpayer money to appeal to a homophobic Republican base
Anne and I spent an incredibly emotional day in the offices in Washtenaw’s and Oakland’s County Clerks today, watching hundreds of same-sex couples getting married. It was a unique experience in both of our lives, one we’ll never forget. We’ll have a full report tomorrow with lots of great photos so please be sure to stop back for that.
UPDATE: The post is up now HERE along with a photoblog following two Dexter women as they got their license and then were married HERE.
This afternoon, however, the surge of loving newlyweds in Michigan came to a screeching halt as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed District Court Judge Bernard Friedman’s ruling that our state’s bigoted law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional:
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, after first signaling it would not intervene in Michigan’s gay marriage case until Tuesday, posted a new order late Saturday imposing a stay in the case until Wednesday.That means U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman’s Friday order declaring unconstitutional Michigan’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is temporarily stayed, and clerks will no longer be able to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples before Wednesday at the earliest.
The stay is temporary and could be lifted or extended after the 6th Circuit Court judges give it further consideration. They will render a final decision next Wednesday.
Governor Rick Snyder’s proxy in the decision to waste taxpayer money fighting the ability of loving same-sex couples to marry is Attorney General Bill Schuette. Schuette is confident that the Court will grant his request for a stay until the Appeals Court hears his appeal.
Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for Schuette, said: “Given the experience in Utah, we expect our request for stay to be granted.” A stay was granted on appeal in Utah after a similar court ruling after more than 1,000 couples were married.
In the meantime, there are 300 new newlywed couples in Michigan tonight who, thanks to County Clerks in Muskegon (Nancy Waters), Ingham (Barb Byrum), Washtenaw (Lawrence Kestenbaum), and Oakland (Lisa Brown) counties, were able to tie the knot and enjoy the myriad benefits married couples enjoy in our state. The story is long from over but we remain confident that the arc of history bends toward equal rights and justice for LGBT couples.
[Eclectameme by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
