Late News Flash

MASON, Michigan: Michigan Court Flip Flops on Allowing Gay Marriage.

A federal appeals court issued an order Saturday preventing more same-sex couples from getting married in Michigan for at least several more days.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said it issued the stay because it needed more time to consider the state's appeal of a judge's ruling Friday overturning Michigan's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. The court said its stay would last until at least Wednesday.

Earlier Saturday, dozens of same-sex couples in at least four Michigan counties wasted no time in getting hitched, uncertain of how the appeals court would act.

Meanwhile maybe an even more important ruling last week happened in Tennessee where a federal judge in Nashville issued a preliminary injunction against Tennessee's same-sex marriage.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three same-sex couples who moved to Tennessee after being married in states where their unions were recognized. Tennessee does not recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions. The court's ruling applies only to these three couples until the court reviews the case at a later time.

In his ruling Judge Aleta Arthur Trauger wrote, "At this point, all signs indicate that, in the eyes of the United States Constitution, the plaintiffs' marriages will be placed on an equal footing with those of heterosexual couples and that proscriptions against same-sex marriage will soon become a footnote in the annals of American history."

The overriding importance of this ruling, if allowed to stand, is that gay marriage must be recognized even in states that have laws against it. Consequently, gay couples can married in a the nearby state where gay marriage is allowed, and have full civil rights in their own state. It will be like those counties in the South where liquor is outlaw and drinkers have only to drive over the country line to purchase their whiskey.