Same-sex couples may be able to marry in California as early as June 14
Pastor Dale Morgan
Same-sex couples may be able to marry in California as early as June 14*
* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk,
* Tuesday May 27 2008
Same-sex couples in some California counties will be able to marry as
soon as June 14, the president of the California's county clerks
association said.
Stephen Weir, who heads the California association of clerks and
election officials, said yesterday he was told by the office of vital
records that clerks would be authorised to hand out marriage licences as
soon as that date, which is a Saturday and exactly 30 days after the
California supreme court ruled that gay marriage should be legal.
The court's decisions typically take effect after 30 days, barring
further legal action.
Weir added that the state planned to give California's 58 counties
advice this week for implementing the historic change so local officials
can start planning.
Suanne Buggy, a spokeswoman for the California department of public
health, which oversees the vital records office, would not confirm
yesterday that state officials have settled the matter of when counties
can or must start extending marriage licences to same-sex couples.
"We will be getting guidance out to the counties soon," Buggy said.
According to Weir, it would be up to each county clerk to decide whether
to open their offices to gay and lesbian couples on that Saturday or to
wait until the following Monday.
Some clerks have said they would try to accommodate couples at the
earliest possible date, depending on their staffing and anticipated
demand, he said.
If the court's decision does take effect on June 14, couples could, in
theory, plan to obtain their licences and take their vows at 12.01 am
that day, he said.
As it happens, Weir's office in Martinez already holds open hours on the
second Saturday of each month, so serving couples who want to get
hitched as soon as possible won't be a problem, he said.
He and his partner of 18 years hope to be the first ones to tie the knot.
"Just because we have been so close to it, and so far, I would really
like to be first," Weir said.
An effort, however, is under way to stay the supreme court's decision
until voters can decide the issue with an initiative planned for the
November ballot.
The measure would overrule the justices' decision and amend the state
constitution to ban gay marriage.
Justices have until the ruling's effective date to weigh the request,
but could give themselves longer to consider it, attorneys have said.
Another complicating factor is that the supreme court also directed a
midlevel appeals court that upheld the state's one man-one woman
marriage laws a year ago to issue a new order legalising same-sex
marriage, and it is not clear when the appeals court will comply.
Massachusetts is the only other US state to legalise gay marriage. More
than 9,500 same-sex couples in that state have wed since 2004, when the
law took effect.