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W. Pa. mayor in demand after agreeing to officiate weddings for gay couples

W. Pa. mayor in demand after agreeing to officiate weddings for gay couples

BRADDOCK, Pa. — A Pittsburgh-area mayor is finding himself in demand since agreeing to officiate a wedding ceremony for a same-sex couple last week.

Braddock, Pa., Mayor John Fetterman

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he’s opened his home — a former car dealership he and his wife are renovating — to four same-sex couples so far, and was scheduled to marry a fifth couple Wednesday night.

Fetterman and at least one other mayor in Centre County have been performing the ceremonies since a clerk in Montgomery County began issuing dozens of marriage licenses to same-sex couples last month.

The suburban Philadelphia county is defying Pennsylvania’s marriage law, and has issued more than 100 marriage licenses to same-sex couples since July 24 because, they say, they want to be on the right side of history.

Fetterman agrees, and said Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act is “a fundamentally unjust piece of legislation.”

State officials have gone to court to stop Montgomery County from issuing the licenses; the petition filed by the Health Department, alleges that D. Bruce Hanes, the register of wills in Montgomery County, “risks causing serious and limitless harm” in Pennsylvania and beyond.

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