"Craig Andrussier, a non-denominational minister
from Landsdale, said the two women had contacted him early this morning after
they applied for a license at the courthouse."
Andrussier said he met with the Limerick couple
and performed a quick ceremony, signed the license then returned to the
courthouse to file it with the county.
“We tried to legalize this process as quick as
possible,” he said. “That’s why I’m down here filing in person instead of
putting in the mail and waiting a day or two. I didn’t want anything to change
between now and then.”
“This is further proof that Governor (Tom)
Corbett should refuse to defend discrimination in Pennsylvania,” said Alan
Kennedy-Shaffer, president of Harrisburg Hope, a bipartisan advocacy group. “
There is momentum for marriage equality and it will become law in Pennsylvania
sooner than many people think.”
The announcement from Hanes comes just two weeks
after a lawsuit was filed in federal court challenging Pennsylvania marriage
law.
“Based upon the advice of [my solicitor], my own
analysis of the law and mindful of the Attorney General’s belief that
Pennsylvania’s marriage laws are unconstitutional, I decided to come down on
the right side of history and the law, and was prepared to issue a license,”
Hanes said in a press release.
On July 9, the ACLU of Pennsylvania on behalf of
23 gay and lesbian plaintiffs, and two of their teenage children, filed a
lawsuit in U.S. Middle District Court seeking to overturn Pennsylvania's
Defense of Marriage Act and to have the state recognize same-sex marriages
performed in other states.
Along with Corbett and Attorney General Kathleen
Kane, the Whitewood v. Corbett lawsuit names the Washington County Register of
Wills - Mary Jo Poknis - as one of the
defendants. Register of Wills issue marriage licenses.
Kane swiftly announced she would not defend the
state’s ban on same-sex marriages.
.
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