McLennan County officials began issuing licenses to same-sex couples this morning after the Supreme Court ruled that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
According to McLennan County clerk Andy Harwell, at least one same-sex marriage license has been issued this morning.
Prior to the ruling some Texas counties began preparing by removing gender references from marriage license applications. Harwell said he was waiting for the official ruling before moving forward with any changes.
“I wanted to wait until the ruling actually came out to see how it was worded and I also wanted to give our civil attorney for the county a chance to go through that verbiage of the ruling to make sure there wasn’t anything in there that would preclude us from issuing the licenses,” Harwell said.
The wording of a couple’s marriage license isn't gender specific, but the state-issued application used indicates marriage between a man and a woman. Harwell said couples must review and verify the information on their application.
“If they want to strike through ‘man’ and ‘woman’ at that time that’s up to them. But my office, my staff we’re not changing that form," Harwell said.
In an interview earlier in the week, Carmen Saenz, chairperson of the Local LGBTQ advocacy group, InterWaco, said the decision would finally give same-sex couples equal recognition for their marriage.
"It is a wonderful decision to celebrate, but I think we all need to keep in mind that it’s just a first step," Saenz said. "It’s the beginning of our fight towards full federal equality, that it’s definitely not an end point at all – it’s actually a beginning."
InterWaco will host a celebration at heritage square tonight at 6.