1st gay marriage licenses issued in South Carolina

1st gay marriage licenses issued in South Carolina

... Excerpt

November 19, 2014

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A judge issued the first gay marriage licenses and a couple was married in South Carolina on Wednesday, even as the state attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block the unions.

Judge Irvin Condon's office issued six licenses in the first 90 minutes the Charleston County Probate Court office was open and one of the couples, Kristin Anderson and Kayla Bennett, exchanged vows outside the office.

 

"We want to get in before they change their minds and pull the rug out again," Anderson told local media outlets, referring to the ongoing legal battles over gay marriage.

 

Before Wednesday, same-sex couples could marry in 32 states, parts of Kansas and Missouri, and the District of Columbia. Also Wednesday, a federal judge in Montana ruled the state's ban was unconstitutional.

 

In South Carolina, another marriage license went to Colleen Condon and her partner Nichols Bleckley, who sued the state. Ruling in that case, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel last week threw out the same-sex marriage ban in the South Carolina Constitution.