New Update: Appeals Court Puts Gay Marriage Ruling On Hold

Above: Glenna DeJong (left) and Marsha Caspar, partners for over a quarter-century, receive Michigan's first same-sex marriage license Saturday in Ingham County. The county clerk performed a wedding ceremony on the spot, followed by others. (Twitter photo/Rick Pluta)

Update, 4:50 p.m.: The U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit has issued a stay on Michigan's gay marriage case until Wednesday, The Detroit News reports.

To allow a more reasoned consideration of the motion to stay, it is ordered that the district court’s judgment is temporarily stayed until Wednesday,” the order read.

The regional appellate court in Cincinnati earlier Saturday asked the plaintiffs to respond by Tuesday to Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette's reguest for an order to keep Federal District Judge Bernard Friedman's ruling Friday from taking effect while Michigan appeals.

Update, 2:50 p.m.: Barb Byrum, clerk of Ingham County near Lansing, issued 57 same-gender marriage licenses and performed 30 ceremonies Saturday, Paul Egan reports in the Free Press.

Among the couples she married were GOP strategist Greg McNeilly of Kent County and his partner Douglas Meeks, a Lansing-area attorney. McNeilly, who heads the conservative Michigan Freedom Fund, is a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party and was campaign manager for Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos in 2006.

Original article, 8:22 a.m.

Spring is here,
The sky is blue.
Whoooa, the birds all sing as if they knew.
Today's the day, we'll say "I do"
-- "Chapel of Love," 1964 pop song

Gay and lesbian couples went to county buildings, not chapels, but the purpose and joy was the same in Oakland and three other counties.

Gee, I really love you and we're gonna get married.

The first license was issued just before 8 a.m. to Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar at the Ingham County Courthouse in Mason, Rick Pluta of Michigan Radio tweets. County Clerk Barb Byrum, performed a wedding ceremony at 8:05 a.m., according to the broadcaster. The pair has been together 27 years, MLive says.

Glenna DeJong (right) and Marsha Caspar are wed Saturday in a court hallway by Ingham Clerk Barb Byrum. (Twitter photo/Dan Kildee)

Oakland's clerk married two Birmingham men in suits and ties at her county's first ceremony of its type, Dustin Blitchok reports for The Oakland Press:After 26 years together, Frank Colasonti Jr. and James Ryder sealed Oakland County’s first same-sex marriage Saturday with a kiss.

“We’re looking forward to growing old together with the same protections as every American,” Colasonti, 61, said after he and Ryder, 48, were married by Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown at 9:10 a.m. Satuday. The Birmingham residents got in line at the courthouse at 6 a.m.

“It was love at first sight. We met and that was it.”

At MLive, Melissa Anders quotes the Ingham County clerk's explanation for coming in on Saturday:

"So many people have been waiting long enough, and it seemed the more I thought about it, the more absurd it seemed to make them wait until Monday morning.

"It is an honor to join to people together in marriage, and today has taken that honor to a whole new level."

At least three other county clerks took the same step a day after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit tossed out Michigan's ban on same-sex weddings.

Katrease Stafford covers the impact for the Free Press:

Oakland, Muskegon and Washtenaw County clerks announced Friday night that licenses will be issued. The counties are expected to allow immediate weddings, waiving the typical three-day waiting period.
The Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office will issue 60 marriage licenses for same-sex couples on Saturday, Clerk Lawrence Kestenbaum confirmed. . . . "The Board of Commissioners strongly urged me to be open tomorrow. . . .

”I know there’s going to be attempts to get a stay, but I’m assuming there won’t be one by [Saturday]."

Jayne Rowse (left) and April DeBoer filed the case decided Friday. The Hazel Park couple adopted three children and sued for the right to marry.

State Attorney General Michigan filed an emergency request to keep gay couples from marrying right away.

In the meantime, clerks in the two Southeast Michigan counties, as well as Ingham and Muskegon, are issuing marriage licenses until 1 p.m. today.

“I apologize in advance to those we will have to turn away,” Kestenbaum said in Ann Arbor, according to The Detroit News.

Applicants will be issued a number on a first-come, first-served basis; however, same-sex couples issued a number at the office when trying to tie the knot last October are to be honored first, the clerk said. . . .

Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh said Friday night that if no stay is granted, her office would begin issuing marriage licenses Monday.

In his 31-page ruling (full text here), Stafford, writes in the Freep, "Judge Friedman heavily criticized the state’s position that the will of the voters should have been upheld, noting that just because voters approve something doesn’t make it right, especially when it violates the Constitution."

“In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people,’ state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people.

“No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples,” Friedman wrote.

The federal case was brought by Hazel park nurses Jayne Rowse, 49, and April DeBoer, 42, parents of three adopted youngsters.

They say they'll wed after a federal appeals court rules on Schuette's effort to block the ruling from taking effect..

“We are going to get married when we can stay married,” DeBoer told supporters and reporters Friday evening at Affirmations, an advocacy group in Ferndale, Oralandar Brand-Williams and Mark Hick write in The News.