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Some Mich. counties moving quickly to issue marriage licenses to gay couples

Some Mich. counties moving quickly to issue marriage licenses to gay couples

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Some counties plan to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Saturday, less than 24 hours after a judge overturned Michigan’s ban on gay marriage.

Clerks in Washtenaw, Oakland and Muskegon counties say they won’t wait until Monday.

Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum says the office in Ann Arbor will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. He says county commissioners strongly urged him to open Saturday instead of waiting until Monday.

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Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Schuette wants a federal appeals court to step in and suspend the historic decision made Friday by Detroit federal Judge Bernard Friedman.

Friedman says the 2004 gay-marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

His decision was filed late in the afternoon when most county governments were closed and licenses were unavailable.

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