Michigan: Hundreds Wed in 24 Hours

Hundreds of same-sex couples tied the knot over the weekend, following a federal judge's ruling that Michigan's voter-approved marriage ban was unconstitutional. Nonetheless, within 24 hours of Judge Bernard Friedman's ruling on Friday, an appeals court issued a temporary stay on all further marriages.

Although court-watchers expected a stay on any ruling that struck down the ban, Friedman's ruling did not appear to include such a delay on its implementation, prompting Equality Michigan to announce that same-sex couples in Michigan could begin marrying immediately.

Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar of Lansing were the first same-sex couple to marry in Michigan. DeJong told the Huffington Post that she and her partner barely gave a second thought to what their next step was, after the ruling had been issued.

"We didn't plan, try, or even think about being the first gay couple to officially marry in Michigan," DeJong said. "I guess it's just that I'm old and I woke up early. I picked up my iPad at about 6:40 and I was able to see the tweet from Barb Byrum, our county clerk, at 6:37. So within three minutes I saw it, I was waking Marsha up and we were out the door."

Friedman's ruling was a result of a lawsuit brought forth by Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, who sued for the right to adopt each other's children together. They told MLive that they would wait until the state completely, officially honors marriage equality, even if the process takes years to complete.

"We will get married when we know that our marriage is forever binding," DeBoer said.