U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled New Year’s Day that all Florida clerks are bound by the U.S. Constitution not to enforce Florida’s gay marriage ban and that any couple seeking a license on Tuesday should receive one.
“The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants,” Hinkle wrote in an order released Thursday afternoon. “But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses.”
Said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida: “This is a New Year’s Day present from federal Judge Robert Hinkle — he has given Florida the roadmap to an orderly transition to being a state that treats all its people equally.”
“We are thankful that Judge Hinkle agreed with us that the Constitution does not tolerate discrimination and that, beginning Tuesday Jan. 6, all clerks in Florida have an obligation to issue marriage licenses to couples requesting them.”
Simon said Hinkle’s “injunction has statewide impact because he found the law unconstitutional and therefore as we have been saying, no public official should be acting in accordance with an unconstitutional provision.”
FLORIDA MARRIAGE PRIMER
Both spouses must apply for a marriage license in person. There is no residency or citizenship requirement. All applicants must show valid identification. Applicants 16-17 years old must show a birth certificate with parent’s name and a parental consent form.
A deputy clerk can perform a marriage ceremony immediately after the license is issued, if the spouses have taken a four-hour premarital course. There is no other waiting period for those who have taken the course. The courses are given in person and online, and can be completed in one day. Search online: ‘Florida premarital course.’
All Florida residents must take the course, or wait three days for a license to become valid. This does not apply to nonresidents. Marriage ceremonies must be performed within 60 days of a license being issued.
Tell me Judge, Where in the F in the Constitution does it say that, is it in the pages that your friend Hussein Obama has trample all over with his muddy golf shoes and we’re no longer able to read?? by the way, it would had been nice if your mother had been gay, this way you had never been born.