![Yvette and Helena are among the thousands of same-sex couples who are ready for the freedom to marry in Florida.](https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2014/12/Marriage-Florida.jpg)
Clerks in at least 12 counties say they will not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on January 6. Check the list →Legal experts who have worked to secure marriage in other states say the threat in the Greenberg Traurig memo is a strained interpretation that ignores legal precedent and common sense. “A law firm memo does not override a federal judge’s order and the actions of the 11th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, a statewide LGBT advocacy group. Shannon Minter, Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), advised that “any Florida clerk who refuses to follow the Constitution’s command and who withholds marriage licenses from couples once the stay expires is on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the law.”
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