Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples
married Saturday in Michigan before a federal appeals court put a
lower court's order on hold, at least temporarily.
The rush to the altar came a day after
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down Michigan's 2004
voter-approve constitutional amendment limiting marriage to
heterosexual couples.
(Related: Michigan's
ban on gay marriage struck down.)
Long lines formed at county clerk
offices in at least 4 Michigan counties. Emily Dievendorf, executive
director of Equality Michigan, the state's leading LGBT rights
advocate, said that about 300 same-sex couples tied the knot on
Saturday.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati issued a temporary injunction through Wednesday, when the
court is expect to decide whether to grant a longer stay while it
considers an appeal in the case.
Jonnie Terry, 50, and Elizabeth Patten,
52, were to first to marry in Ann Arbor.
“It feels just unbelievable,”
Patten said of marrying her sweetheart of 28 years. “We've been
waiting for this for a lifetime.”
About an hour before Terry and Patten
were declared married, a couple from Lansing exchanged vows and
became the first gay couple to be legally married in Michigan.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum married
Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 51, shortly 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.”