Montana becomes latest state to allow same-sex marriages

Same-sex couples in Montana can begin marrying “their loves”, a federal judge wrote Wednesday, just hours after South Carolina began issuing its first legal marriage licenses to gay couples.

US district judge Brian Morris ruled on Wednesday that Montana’s same-sex marriage ban is in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Montana’s ruling comes one day after the fourth US circuit court of appeals declined to block a ruling that struck down South Carolina’s ban on gay marriages, clearing the way for South Carolina to become the 34th state that allows same-sex unions.

Montana was the last remaining state under the jurisdiction of the ninth circuit court to uphold its ban after the court found that Idaho and Nevada’s bans were unconstitutional, setting a precedent for the rest of the circuit.

“No family wants to deprive its precious children of the chance to marry the loves of their lives,” Morris wrote in his decision. “Montana no longer can deprive plaintiffs and other same-sex couples of the chance to marry their loves.” His ruling is effective immediately.

A judge issued South Carolina’s first legal same-sex marriage licenses on Wednesday, less than a day after a federal court tersely denied the state’s appeal to delay the unions.

The state attorney general, Republican Alan Wilson, has asked the US supreme court to intervene. “Today’s ruling by the fourth circuit does not end the constitutional obligation of this office to defend South Carolina law,” Wilson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Gay rights activists cheered the appellate court ruling. “The endgame is clear – marriage will soon be available for same-sex couples in South Carolina,” said Beth Littrell, a senior attorney for the activist group Lambda Legal, in a statement.

Some last-minute wrangling halted a Charleston County judge who began issuing licenses on Wednesday morning. South Carolina requires a 24-hour waiting period and a previous ruling had set noon on Thursday as the appointed moment when marriages could begin. But Charleston County probate judge Irvin Condon issued six licenses in total before court administration ordered him to stop. Condon’s attorney had argued that a related ruling on Tuesday meant the judge could issue licenses to eligible couples who applied last month.

Two plaintiffs against the state ban were among the first in line. Charleston councilwoman Colleen Condon said in a statement that she and her partner, Ann Nichols Bleckley, “are ecstatic” about the ruling.

“We knew going into this we weren’t doing it for ourselves but doing it for us, my son and for all the other people who were afraid to take that step forward,” Condon told local WCSC news. After the ruling, Bleckley said that she was “thrilled for everyone … I do think it’s a huge step for our state.”

Another couple, Kayla Bennett and Kristin Anderson, wed in a ceremony outside the probate court moments after receiving their license.

Separately on Tuesday, district judge Michelle Childs ruled that South Carolina must recognize the same-sex marriage of a couple married in Washington DC. In her ruling, Childs found withholding such recognition to be unconstitutional.

Although activists have celebrated the fall of bans in quick succession around the United States, one federal appeals court upheld four bans on same-sex marriage in November, increasingly the likelihood that the US supreme court would take up the issue again in the future. The justices have so far declined to rule definitively on whether bans violate the US constitution.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.