Two Michigan elected officials are urging Attorney General Eric Holder to recognize same-sex marriage in the state after a federal appeals court issued a stay order on a ruling overturning the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
The officials, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett sent the letter to Holder on Monday, according to The Detroit Free Press.
“Their marriages complied with Judge Friedman’s order and all relevant provisions of Michigan law and should be recognized as such by state and federal authorities without delay,” Byrum and Triplett write in the letter to Holder.
Byrum and Triplett ask Holder to grant federal benefits to same-sex couples in Michigan, similar to what he did for couples in Utah in January.
“Many of the couples that were married on March 22 waited decades for that opportunity,” Byrum and Triplett continued.
The letter by Byrum and Triplett followed a Friday by United States District Judge Bernard A. Friedman ruling that the state’s ban violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Clerks in four counties, including Ingham county, issued 300 marriage licenses on Saturday following the ruling, according to The Free Press.
But also on Saturday the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in Cincinnati issued a stay order on that ruling. According to the court, the stay order lasts until Wednesday.
