One-hundred-and-forty gay and lesbian
couples will marry at Seattle's City Hall on Sunday morning.
This election year, three states
legalized gay marriage at the ballot box: Washington, Maryland and
Maine.
Washington's law, which was upheld on
November 6 by voters, took effect on Thursday.
King County, which includes Seattle,
opened its offices at midnight on Thursday to accommodate the crush
of couples applying for marriage licenses. The first legal gay
weddings begin Sunday after the expiry of a three-day waiting period
the state requires of all marriages.
Seattle City Hall will open Sunday to
begin marrying couples.
Slots filled up quickly, leading to a
handful of King County judges volunteering to open their courtrooms
to accommodate the overflow.
“Getting the right to marry feels
like a natural extension of something that already existed,”
Brendon Taga, a 33-year-old lawyer who is planning on Sunday to marry
Jesse Page, 30, told Reuters.
(Related: King
County breaks marriage license record on first day of gay marriage
law.)