Gay Marriage is now legal in Oklahoma

[Conan71]

I'll. Be. Damned. 

Bishop and Baldwin have been issued a marriage license.  I figured Sally Howe Smith would ignore the ruling and refuse to issue one.

First same-sex marriage license issued in Tulsa County


Two Tulsa women who were at the center of a gay marriage case that was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court received a marriage license Monday afternoon at the Tulsa County Courthouse.

Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin filed the lawsuit after Oklahoma voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage in 2004.

They argued that they were denied equal protection and due process under the law when they were not granted a marriage license by Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith.

"For 99 percent of same-sex couples in Oklahoma, it's the dream day," Baldwin said after she and Bishop received their license about 1:20 p.m. in the court clerk's office. "We're no longer second-class citizens in our own state."

The couple were planning a wedding later Monday afternoon on the courthouse plaza.

Another same-sex couple applied for a marriage license in Oklahoma County around the same time.

The Supreme Court on Monday morning turned away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit same-sex marriages, paving the way for an immediate expansion of gay and lesbian unions.

The justices on Monday did not comment in rejecting appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. No other state cases were currently pending with the high court, but the justices stopped short of resolving for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide.

The court's order immediately ends delays on marriage in those states.

"We are no doubt as stunned as the rest of the country with regard to the Supreme Court's decision today to deny cert to all seven of the same-sex marriage cases before it," said Bishop and Baldwin in a statement earlier Monday.

Bishop is an editor at the Tulsa World, and Baldwin is a former Tulsa World editor.

Toby Jenkins, director of the executive director of Oklahomans for Equality, had asked other same-sex couples "to stand down" and allow Bishop and Baldwin to be the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license.

"It will be like a tsunami" here when same-sex couples begin to arrive, Jenkins said.

He said the Supreme Court decision this morning was unexpected but welcome.

"I'm super-surprised. So are our attorneys. I thought (the court) would take at least one of them ... and we were hoping it would be Oklahoma," Jenkins said.

Part of the concern is that a patchwork of laws remain.

"We've watched what happens when one state has marriage equality and another does not," he said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/usworld/first-same-sex-marriage-license-issued-in-tulsa-county/article_6ff735f2-6aa3-560a-9ca8-e5c3604d6a77.html

[Townsend]

I'll. Be. Damned. 

Bishop and Baldwin have been issued a marriage license.  I figured Sally Howe Smith would ignore the ruling and refuse to issue one.

Was she present?

[Conan71]

Was she present?

No idea, newspaper article did not say.  She was the twit who refused to issue it before.

[swake]

No idea, newspaper article did not say.  She was the twit who refused to issue it before.

I doubt she had any choice, since that denial was specifically what the court case was about. She has her court order, it's the ruling for the appeals court that the SC refused to reconsider.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I sent that pic to a couple of co-workers.  It's already hanging on the bulletin board!  On the down low, of course.  HR will probably have a cow, but it's funny anyway!

[Red Arrow]

Amazing how this messaging parallels desegregation, voting, and other civil rights legislation a generation ago.

Actually approaching 2 generations.  You must be getting to geezerhood too.

[Red Arrow]

Since when has that stopped teh stoopidz in Oklahoma?

February 30, 1932

[heironymouspasparagus]

I saw this and it was so cogent and comprehensive, I just took it as is....



Oklahoma Governor, Mary Fallin, a divorced Christian adulteress, is super angry today about gays undermining marriage.

She hates the competition.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Older news, but still pertinent....


No conflict of interest possible here....we all know how there is no corruption, graft, or ethical problems with the workers compensation system in Oklahoma....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/wade-christensen-husband-_n_1102186.html

[guido911]

I'd say "finally, let's move on and do something constructive with our time..."

but that'd be silly of me.

I agree. Why the world has to stop over gay marriage is so important.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Supreme Court Will Not Hear Oklahoma Same Sex Appeal

So is this when you're supposed to say "if you don't like it, you can go ahead and leave"?  I've certainly heard that line a few times.

There was a bumper sticker in that 60's that said; "America...Love it or Leave it!"

The contrarian view was; "America....Change it or Lose it!"

Still applies....

Guess which one was on the back wooden bumper of my '61 VW Beetle with the daisy stickers on it?

[PonderInc]

The weirdest thing has been happening the past couple days... All my straight neighbors are getting divorced and marrying goats. I have no idea what's going on....

[Townsend]

The weirdest thing has been happening the past couple days... All my straight neighbors are getting divorced and marrying goats. I have no idea what's going on....

Goats just don't get me.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

The weirdest thing has been happening the past couple days... All my straight neighbors are getting divorced and marrying goats. I have no idea what's going on....

Fresh milk and warm coats?

[heironymouspasparagus]

The weirdest thing has been happening the past couple days... All my straight neighbors are getting divorced and marrying goats. I have no idea what's going on....

Gay marriage has that effect on straight marriages....