Wednesday A Landmark Day In DC With Marriage Equality
First some background… Last December the DC Council passed and mayor Adrian Fenty signed a marriage equality bill into law. As is DC law Congress had 30 days to review the bill and haters like the NOM, National Organization [Against] Marriage, freaked out and tried their best to get Congress to meddle in the affairs of the city. Clearly desperate, NOM even appealed to the US Supreme Court to try and stop DC from issuing marriage licenses but the court refused to get involved.
And today, Wednesday, the gay marriages began.
Well sort of.
See there’s a waiting period for a marriage license in DC so by putting your application now you can get your actual license on March 9th.
Here’s a snippet from the DC Agenda (which replaced the now defunct Blade):
D.C. court officials were quick to welcome the more then 100 same-sex couples that arrived before noon Wednesday to seek a marriage license.
Leah Gurowitz, a court spokesperson, described the courthouse halls as being festive as clerks processed about 20 to 25 couples each hour. She said the couples took to congratulating each other after completing the marriage application process.
“As each couple walks out of the Marriage Bureau — and there’s a long line — everybody claps and cheers,” she said. “People have been very festive.”
Gurowitz said 101 same-sex couples checked in before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. She noted that so many couples came to the courthouse that additional markers indicating each couple’s position in line were printed.
“It is a line and it’s going to take an hour or two, or for some people three,” she said. “We’re just going as quickly as we can.”
D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield, who oversees the court’s Marriage Bureau, said the influx of marriage license applications was far above average. The court normally gets about 10 to 12 applications each day.
Here’s a link to the DC Agenda’s full article.
Photo via flickr user new_wave_creep_kid (source)
