Pennsylvania bans same-sex couples from getting married, but after the Supreme Court's big ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act last month, it's no longer clear that state bans would stand up to a challenge. On Monday, a federal judge in Ohio ordered that state to recognize the marriage of two men, despite the ban there.
Today in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia, the county clerk is going for it. Yesterday, clerk Bruce Hanes announced that he would grant a marriage license to any couples who showed up in his office, gay or straight. Today, the first two people in line were Alicia Terrizzi and Loreen Bloodgood, who have been together 18 years and have two kids. We got the news from the Raging Chicken:
Call it a coup by local democratic officials in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania or call it a victory for progressives who wouldn’t be able to pass same sex marriage legislation in Pennsylvania’s House State Government Committee, but a county official in Pennsylvania has just issued the Commonwealth’s first same-sex marriage license in state history.
So far, Terrizzi and Bloodgood are the first of two gay couples to get a license in Montgomery County today. The local press says they left the clerk's office on their way to getting married and then taking a vacation. (Update: The ceremony.)
This month the ACLU sued Pennsylvania over the ban on marriage equality. Pennsylvania's attorney general, a Democrat, says she will not defend the law in court.
H/t @SandiBerhns. Image: Margaret Gibbons of the Intelligencer.