No gay marriages here for now

(Editor's note: This story was written this morning before word broke about the issuance of gay marriage licenses in Jefferson Parish, then in other parishes. A short notation was added to the story.)

The St. Mary Parish clerk of court will follow the Louisiana Clerk of Courts Association’s direction not to issue same-sex marriage licenses until the state’s appeals are finished in regard to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, Clerk of Court Cliff Dressel said this morning.
“We’re just on hold right now waiting to see what the Supreme Court does with these appeals,” Dressel said.
Dressel said clerks were advised by the association’s legal counsel not to issue same-sex marriage licenses yet until the state’s appeals in appellate court are complete.
The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association issued a statement Friday saying it was advising clerks of court to wait for the end of a 25-day period for the high court to consider a rehearing.
In the meantime, the issue won’t affect the Clerk of Court’s issuance of opposite-sex marriage licenses, Dressel said.
As of this morning, no one had attempted to apply for a same-sex marriage license in St. Mary Parish, Dressel said.
But the Associated Press reported this morning that Louisiana officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today.
Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Geggenheimer said in a telephone interview that a license was issued there this monring. It was believed to be the first license issued to a same-sex couple in the state. The license was issued after the attorney for the clerk of court cleared it, Geggenheimer said.
“History is being made,” Geggenheimer said after hearing from his deputy that a couple was receiving a license.
Gov. Bobby Jindal is opposed to gay marriage but has said the state would comply with the ruling.
Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a 2004 amendment to the state constitution that banned same-sex marriages in the state and prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions. Gay rights advocates have said polling shows a shift in voter attitudes since then.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said he saw nothing in the 5-4 ruling that required immediate granting of licenses.
This morning, a news release from the Forum for Equality Louisiana said the organization informed the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association that Louisiana clerks are violating the “fundamental constitutional right” of same-sex couples to marry.
“The Supreme Court’s opinion provides in no uncertain terms that all citizens have a fundamental right to liberty interest, protected by the United States Constitution, to marriage regardless of gender,” said Chris Otten, chair of Forum for Equality Louisiana in the release. Otten is also chair of the forum’s legal committee that brought Louisiana’s same-sex marriage case stuck in the 5th Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeal. Otten sent a letter to the association Sunday night.
In response to the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association advising clerks to wait 25 days before issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Otten said there is no reason for that delay.
“All Louisiana couples are entitled to ‘equal dignity’ in the eyes of the law,” Otten said. “Not next month; not 25 days from the Supreme Court’s decisions; not tomorrow. Today.”
The Daily Review contacted the Louisiana Clerk of Courts Association for comment but hadn’t received a call back as of this morning.
In a Friday news release, Gene Mills, president of Louisiana Family Forum, said, “The Supreme Court has stripped all Americans of the freedom to debate and decide marriage policy through the democratic process.”
Mills said, “The Court has overridden the considered judgment of tens of millions of Americans who throughout American history have affirmed marriage as only the union of a man and a woman.”
Once the appellate court process is finished and if the Supreme Court’s ruling is upheld, the St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court will have to issue new forms because the current forms say “between a man and a woman,” Dressel said.
“But that’s easy to correct,” Dressel said.
Bishop Michael Jarrell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette issued a statement that cautioned Catholics against bigotry.
But Jarrell urged Catholics not to take part in gay weddings, and said neither priests nor deacons will be allowed to take part in such weddings, which are also prohibited from behind held on diocesan property.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.