Gay couples in Pa. make mad dash to marry after court ruling

[DonViejo]

Source: Washington Post

BY GAIL SULLIVAN
May 21 at 4:27 am

Gay couples in Pennsylvania are rushing to get married before Republican Gov. Tom Corbett can challenge Tuesday’s federal court ruling striking down the state’s gay marriage ban, according to news reports.

County offices that issue marriage licenses are staying open late in Philadelphia. And the Pittsburgh office is taking applications online.

Joe Parisi, 30, and Steven Seminelli, 28, both of Philadelphia, hurried to get a license on Tuesday. “Yeah, we were texting each other from work and just said, ‘All right, we’ve got to jet out of work and get down here as soon as we can,’” Parisi told the Associated Press. “We didn’t want to take the chance of having this be challenged and missing out on our opportunity.” The Philadelphia Inquirer caught up with Rue Landau and Kerry Smith:

They knew they wanted to be first, and they made sure of it. The two women made history Tuesday afternoon as they obtained a marriage license at City Hall after a federal judge struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage. They were the first same-sex couple to get a marriage license in the state based on the ruling, according to the Pennsylvania ACLU, which represented the victorious plaintiffs. “We wanted to be first in line,” said Landau, 45, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.

-snip-


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/21/gay-couples-make-mad-dash-to-marry-for-fear-lawful-unions-will-be-thrown-into-limbo/?tid=up_next

[RKP5637]

1. K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[shenmue]

2. Whee!

[LynneSin]

3. I think these folks are safe for awhile in Pennsylvania

If very unpopular Governor Corbett files an appeal (something in which PA AG Kathleen Kane said she would NOT support) then Corbett can pretty much kiss his re-election chances goodbye. Approval for Marriage Equality is way more popular in Pennsylvania than Tom Corbett.

But I will say this much - if Corbett somehow manages a win then the first thing he's going to do is file the appeal against this judgement. The GOP in Pennsylvania are just that hateful but they know that first they need to get past mid-term and then start pushing their hate again if they get re-elected.

[jberryhill]

4. The election is 29 days from now?

I thought the election was in November?

[IronLionZion]

5. This should boost the PA economy

with more business for weddings, caterers, etc.

[longship]

6. Judge in this case was the same one who ruled on Kitzmiller v. Dover.

The Intelligent Design case a few years back, judge John E. Jones III.

He is a Bush II appointee, but apparently is not ideologically minded.

Good for him.

[DonViejo]

7. Not only a Shrub 2 appointee, but also,....

supported and recommended by Rick Santorum!

[longship]

8. Thanks, I did not know that.

His Dover decision basically killed the Teach Intelligent Design movement dead in its tracks. It was as far sweeping as anybody could have wanted. He actually called defense witnesses liars!

[DonViejo]

9. You're welcome but,

I didn't know either, until yesterday when the Court's decision became news.