Non-marriage states react, marriage begins

MICHIGAN -  Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder pledged Friday to 'fully comply' with a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide and urged Michigan residents to embrace the state's diversity by treating everyone with respect.

Counties, meanwhile, were updating marriage license applications to accommodate same-sex couples. Clerks in Ingham and Calhoun counties planned to marry gay couples immediately, while clerks elsewhere weren't going that far.

OHIO – One of the states involved in the Supreme Court’s decision today. Same-sex marriages are underway in Ohio. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley performed a simple ceremony less than two hours after the court's decision was announced.

Whaley told Tim Walsh and Kery Gray: "In hard times, love offers hope." The casually dressed pair repeated vows and moved their rings from their right hands to their left ring fingers.

Whaley told them: "I declare that you are now husband and husband according to the laws of the state of Ohio."

KENTUCKY – Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear told the state's county clerks of court Friday to immediately issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

"Neither your oath nor the Supreme Court dictates what you must believe. But as elected officials, they do prescribe how we must act," Beshear wrote in a letter to clerks of court in Kentucky's 120 counties. "Effective today, Kentucky will recognize as valid all same sex marriages performed in other states and in Kentucky."

TENNESSEE - Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Haslam issued a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's Friday ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, promising to comply with the decision.

Haslam's statement said the administration will ensure Tennessee's departments are able to comply with the ruling "as quickly as possible."

OTHER STATES

MISSOURI - Some Missouri same-sex couples might have to wait to obtain marriage licenses following Friday's landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize those unions.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday said he'll take necessary action to implement the ruling throughout the state.

But the court's ruling won't take effect immediately. Justices are giving the losing side about three weeks to ask for reconsideration.

Recorders in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas have been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples since federal and state-level rulings overturned Missouri's ban on the practice.

TEXAS - Dallas County Sheriff Lupe (LOO'-pay) Valdez, the county's first openly gay sheriff, stopped by the Dallas County Records Building on Friday morning to see the line of couples preparing to seek marriage licenses.

Valdez says she wanted to help celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage. She says the ruling means gay couples "are recognized as equal in every possible way."

Same-sex couples in Texas are beginning to obtain marriage licenses following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalizes gay marriage nationwide.

North and South Dakota, and Nebraska, issued statements that they will comply with the ruling. Marriages began in some counties.

Compiled from AP Dispatches. Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – June 26, 2015 @ 12pm.