Asheville, N.C. Register Accepts Marriage Applications from 10 Same-Sex Couples

[William769]

In a historic first for the Campaign for Southern Equality's We Do Campaign, which launched in 2011, the register of deeds in Asheville, North Carolina, accepted marriage license applications from same-sex couples who requested them on Tuesday.

Buncombe County, N.C., Register of Deeds Drew Resigner accepted marriage applications from ten same-sex couples on Tuesday, though he told the couples he can't issue the licenses until he receives permission from the state's attorney general, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. North Carolina voters amended the state Constitution in 2012 to order that only marriages between one man and one woman be recognized or valid in the state.

"I will let each couple know that it is my hope to grant them a license, but I need to seek the North Carolina Attorney General’s approval,” said Reisinger in a statement Monday. "I have concerns about whether we are violating people’s civil rights based on this summer’s Supreme Court decision…I will then let the Attorney General know that I would like to issue these couples licenses, but that I need his clarification on the laws of the state that seem to contradict the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution."

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper issued a statement Monday noting that the state's constitution expressly prohibits any official from issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple, and citing an ongoing federal challenge to that state law.

http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2013/10/17/watch-asheville-nc-register-accepts-marriage-applications-10

This is going to get interesting tearing down the walls this is a start in the crack.

[Laelth]

1. Asheville has always been a really cool city. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Asheville, a liberal oasis surrounded by a sea of red. Cheers to Drew Resigner!

[G_j]

3. makes me proud

[William769]

4. Kick.