For Gay Couples in Michigan, a Day of Joy Ends in Legal Uncertainty

A day after a federal judge struck down Michigan’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages, hundreds of gay couples raced to clerks’ offices across the state on Saturday morning to exchange wedding vows before an appeals court challenge that could reinstate the ban.

But the euphoria of the day for the couples quickly turned to disappointment by late afternoon when the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, suspended the judge’s ruling until at least Wednesday, when the court is expected to decide whether to grant a longer injunction while it considers an appeal filed by Michigan’s attorney general. That means that same-sex weddings in the state were halted immediately for now.

The injunction ended a 24-hour emotional roller coaster and put those couples who were married earlier in the day in a legal limbo.

By the time the stay came down, about 300 same-sex couples had already been married and many others had been turned away because the clerk’s offices had closed, said Emily Dievendorf, the executive director of Equality Michigan.

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