Following a conference call on Friday, all county clerks in the state of Florida have announced they will follow Judge Robert Hinkle's New Years Day ruling and will begin issuing marriage license to same-sex couples starting Tuesday morning.
Clerks in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, meanwhile, have joined clerks in Baker, Clay, and Duval counties in discontinuing all courthouse wedding ceremonies rather than allow gay couples to use the same space for thier own weddings.
The Gainsville Sun reports:
In Alachua County, Clerk Buddy Irby said his office will open a few minutes early Tuesday morning to help ensure a glitch-free process for couples seeking a marriage license. The licensing process should take only a few minutes, and once it's done, couples who have taken a premarital counseling course can wed immediately, he said.
The PRIDE Community Center of North Central Florida and other LGBT organizations will celebrate the milestone Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the group's 3131 NW 13th St. headquarters, said Terry Fleming, PRIDE's co-president.
In other parts of the state, celebrations will be bigger and bolder.
The city of Orlando and the Metropolitan Business Association, Central Florida's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender chamber of commerce, will host a “Vowed & Proud” celebration with a group marriage ceremony officiated by Mayor Buddy Dyer at city hall.
In related news, the anti-gay Florida Family Action's lawsuit seeking to stop marriage equality from going into effect on January 6 has been tossed out by a circuit judge. A second lawsuit filed against Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in an effort to prevent him from officiating or issuing licenses is still pending….for now.
