Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby
Jindal on Thursday gave up the fight to keep gay couples from
marrying in Orleans Parish, which includes New Orleans.
Jindal, a candidate for the White
House, has been resisting the Supreme Court's landmark ruling
declaring that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry
in all 50 states.
Orleans Parish, which is under the
control of Jindal, has yet to issue a marriage license to a gay
couple, though licenses have been issued in every other parish.
The governor first said that he would
wait for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower
court's ruling which upheld Louisiana's gay marriage.
When the Fifth Circuit handed down its
ruling on Wednesday and instructed the district court to reverse its
findings, Jindal said that he would wait for the lower court to act.
(Related: Despite
appeals court ruling, Bobby Jindal blocks Louisiana recognition of
gay marriages.)
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman
quickly complied, handing down a ruling Thursday instructing
officials to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
Olivia Hwang, spokeswoman for the
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said that the court had
ordered the agency to comply.
“Today the Eastern District Court of
Louisiana ordered the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to
begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples who complete a
marriage application at the Department's Office of Vital Records in
Orleans Parish,” she
said.