COLUMBIA, S.C. (WLTX) - Gay marriage has begun in South Carolina, as couples have started getting their licenses, with at least one couple already tying the knot.
The actions comes one day after two major legal victories that paved the way for legal same-sex marriage in the state.
The first licenses were issued in Charleston Wednesday morning. Colleen Condon and Nichols Bleckley---a couple whose lawsuit helped get the licenses legalized in the state--were among the first to pick up their certificate. Another couple, Kristin Anderson and Kayla Bennett, got married moments afterward on the Charleston County Courthouse steps.
About an hour later, Shelia Morris and Teresa Williams, a lesbian couple in Richland County, completed their paperwork in Columbia to get their license. They said they expected to pick up the document later in the day. They said the day is the first public affirmation of their love and commitment.
On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay a U.S. District Court ruling that declared South Carolina's ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional. That case involved Condon and Bleckley, who sued after State Attorney General Alan Wilson blocked their attempt to get a marriage license last month.
The judge in that case ruled that the state's current law violated the equal protection and due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Around the same time the Fourth Circuit's decision became public, a long-awaited ruling from U.S. District Court Michelle Childs was released. In that decision, Childs ruled that the state must recognize a Lexington County lesbian couple's marriage that happened in Washington, D.C. The couple had sued the state after they ran into a problem when one of them tried to add her wife and kids to her employee health plan.
While the marriages have begun, the legal fight is not over. Wilson has filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for an emergency stay to stop the marriages from happening. He contends that because of a recent recent ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld gay marriage bans in several states, there are now conflicting rulings by the country's appeals courts. He said that leaves the issue of whether gay marriage is legal as a matter of debate that can only be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.
York County Probate Judge Carolyn Rogers tells NBC Charlotte that York County will begin issuing marriage applications to same sex couples at 8 a.m. Thursday.
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