US Attorney General Eric Holder has been asked to declare that the federal government will recognize same-sex marriages performed in Michigan over the weekend, even if the state won’t.
We have more from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta.
Governor Rick Snyder’s administration is waiting for more legal guidance or a court decision before the state will recognize roughly 300 same-sex marriages performed Saturday – before that was halted by a temporary stay from the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett performed some of those weddings, and he says they deserve to be recognized.
“The attorney general weighing in and saying, “we recognize the validity of these marriages’ would give these couples some certainty on their legal status, at least from the federal perspective,” he says.
Triplett says that includes allowing these couples to, for the first time, file joint federal tax returns. Opponents of the same-sex marriage ban are also asking the appeals court to lift the stay to let more marriages go forward.