Judge: Michigan Must Recognize 300-Plus Gay Marriages
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A federal judge has ruled that Michigan must recognize hundreds of same-sex marriages performed during a brief window last year.
U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled Thursday that the unions are valid. Goldsmith stayed the decision for 21 days pending any appeal by the state.
A different federal judge struck down the state's gay marriage ban on March 21. More than 300 same-sex couples in four counties got married the next day, before an appeals court suspended the decision and blocked additional marriages.
Michigan has refused to recognize those marriages.
Royal Oak resident Laura Quinn said she was happy to get this latest news.
"I did my little, kind of seated happy dance; that I can certainly say. I did do that behind the desk," she told WWJ's Greg Bowman. "I called my wife and I left her a message just in case she hasn't heard that we're not legally wed in the great state of Michigan."
Quinn said she and her partner have been a couple for 19 years, and they never thought about moving to another state where gay marriage was legal.
"I want to get married where I live, I want my friends and family there and I want to be recognized by my own state," she said. "So, I wanted to wait. I knew it would eventually happen."
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement that his office is reviewing the ruling.
"...But as I have said repeatedly, the sooner the United States Supreme Court makes a decision on this issue the better it will be for Michigan and America," Schuette added.
Michigan voters banned gay marriage in 2004, but Detroit federal Judge Bernard Friedman declared the constitutional amendment illegal last March.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce Friday whether it will take up the issue.
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