Two women married Saturday by Ingham
County Clerk Barb Byrum were the first gay couple to marry in
Michigan, one day after a federal judge struck down the state's
nearly 10-year ban on gay marriage.
Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar,
51, exchanged vows just after 8 AM. The women have been together 27
years.
“I figured in my lifetime it would
happen,” Caspar told the AP. “But now, when it happens now,
it's just overwhelming. I still can't believe it. I don't think
it's hit me yet.”
At least 4 out of Michigan's 83 county
clerk offices opened Saturday to begin issuing marriage licenses to
gay couples.
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman
handed down his ruling – which he did not stay – on Friday
evening after county clerk offices had closed for the weekend.
Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement that he would ask the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to suspend Friedman's
decision as the state pursues an appeal.
(Related: Michigan's
ban on gay marriage struck down.)
“As far as we're concerned, we're
abiding by the federal court appellates,” Washtenaw County Clerk
Lawrence Kestenbaum told ABC
affiliate WZZM. “We're not typically open [on Saturday], but
basically the Board of Commissioners strongly urged me to be open
tomorrow.”