In Detroit, Atlanta and Austin, Tex., same-sex couples rushed to courthouses to marry. Here in the nation's capital, people wiped away tears as a gay men's chorus sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the marble steps of the Supreme Court. In Cincinnati, Mayor John Cranley presided over a public same-sex wedding ceremony as a guitarist played acoustic melodies near a fountain in a downtown square.
But within hours of the Supreme Court's historic decision on Friday to grant a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, there was confusion, delay and denunciation in some of the most conservative pockets of the Deep South, reflecting the deep divisions in the country over whether gay people should be able to legally wed.
The fiercest resistance appeared to come in Louisiana, where Attorney General James D. Caldwell said the ruling "overturns the will of the people." State and federal officials there cited a legal technicality that, they said, could permit them to delay issuing same-sex marriage licenses for as long as 25 days, disappointing couples who tried to apply.
The ruling overturned same-sex marriage bans in 13 states, and gay Americans broke out in joyous celebration, holding rallies, street parties, Champagne toasts and instant weddings.
"It took 22 years to get this," said Gina Dawson, 48, beaming as she and her longtime partner, Charlotte Rutherford, 53, left the Travis County Clerk's Office in Austin, clutching their marriage license. As they waited Friday morning for the clerk's office to open, she said, "We sat in the parking lot and cried."
In Texas, Dawson and Rutherford were among more than 300 couples, most of them gay, to receive marriage licenses in Travis County on Friday. Still, the state's Republican leadership condemned the decision - Attorney General Ken Paxton called it "a flawed ruling" - and in other counties, there were exceptions and delays as clerks waited for new license applications. The forms, completed by evening, replace the words "man" and "woman" with "applicant one" and "applicant two."
In Mississippi, at least one couple wed in Hattiesburg before the attorney general, Jim Hood, advised circuit court clerks in all 82 counties to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately while awaiting an appeals court ruling that will effectively implement the Supreme Court's decision. Gov. Phil Bryant sounded defiant, saying that the Supreme Court had usurped the state's "right to self-governance" and that it had imposed a mandate that is "certainly out of step with the majority of Mississippians."
And in Alabama - where same-sex marriage ceremonies began in February but came to a halt in March after a clash between state and federal judges - some couples were able to wed in major cities like Birmingham and Montgomery, but others were stopped by local officials. Officials in at least one county, Pike, have for months refused to issue marriage licenses to couples of any sexual orientation, and said they had no plans to resume.
In an interview, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the State Supreme Court, who has led the charge against same-sex marriage in Alabama, compared Friday's decision to other wrongly decided cases, including the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which held that African-Americans could not be citizens. He said he would continue to press for an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage. "I believe that would be what it takes to overcome this errant Supreme Court," he said.
News of the decision rocketed around social media, with 3.8 million people in the United States making 10.1 million related likes, posts, comments and shares on Facebook. In the four hours after the decision, Twitter recorded more than 6.2 million messages about the ruling.
Corporate websites also took note. Delta splashed a rainbow flag across its landing page, with the tag line "Marriage Takes Flight," and Uber put rainbow flags on the backs of cars on the main page of its ride-sharing app. Citi, which sponsors New York City's bike-share program, put rainbows on its bicycles, calling the program #RideWithPride.
But within hours of the Supreme Court's historic decision on Friday to grant a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, there was confusion, delay and denunciation in some of the most conservative pockets of the Deep South, reflecting the deep divisions in the country over whether gay people should be able to legally wed.
The fiercest resistance appeared to come in Louisiana, where Attorney General James D. Caldwell said the ruling "overturns the will of the people." State and federal officials there cited a legal technicality that, they said, could permit them to delay issuing same-sex marriage licenses for as long as 25 days, disappointing couples who tried to apply.
The ruling overturned same-sex marriage bans in 13 states, and gay Americans broke out in joyous celebration, holding rallies, street parties, Champagne toasts and instant weddings.
"It took 22 years to get this," said Gina Dawson, 48, beaming as she and her longtime partner, Charlotte Rutherford, 53, left the Travis County Clerk's Office in Austin, clutching their marriage license. As they waited Friday morning for the clerk's office to open, she said, "We sat in the parking lot and cried."
In Texas, Dawson and Rutherford were among more than 300 couples, most of them gay, to receive marriage licenses in Travis County on Friday. Still, the state's Republican leadership condemned the decision - Attorney General Ken Paxton called it "a flawed ruling" - and in other counties, there were exceptions and delays as clerks waited for new license applications. The forms, completed by evening, replace the words "man" and "woman" with "applicant one" and "applicant two."
In Mississippi, at least one couple wed in Hattiesburg before the attorney general, Jim Hood, advised circuit court clerks in all 82 counties to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately while awaiting an appeals court ruling that will effectively implement the Supreme Court's decision. Gov. Phil Bryant sounded defiant, saying that the Supreme Court had usurped the state's "right to self-governance" and that it had imposed a mandate that is "certainly out of step with the majority of Mississippians."
And in Alabama - where same-sex marriage ceremonies began in February but came to a halt in March after a clash between state and federal judges - some couples were able to wed in major cities like Birmingham and Montgomery, but others were stopped by local officials. Officials in at least one county, Pike, have for months refused to issue marriage licenses to couples of any sexual orientation, and said they had no plans to resume.
In an interview, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the State Supreme Court, who has led the charge against same-sex marriage in Alabama, compared Friday's decision to other wrongly decided cases, including the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which held that African-Americans could not be citizens. He said he would continue to press for an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage. "I believe that would be what it takes to overcome this errant Supreme Court," he said.
News of the decision rocketed around social media, with 3.8 million people in the United States making 10.1 million related likes, posts, comments and shares on Facebook. In the four hours after the decision, Twitter recorded more than 6.2 million messages about the ruling.
Corporate websites also took note. Delta splashed a rainbow flag across its landing page, with the tag line "Marriage Takes Flight," and Uber put rainbow flags on the backs of cars on the main page of its ride-sharing app. Citi, which sponsors New York City's bike-share program, put rainbows on its bicycles, calling the program #RideWithPride.
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