Arizona Equality Official Website tracking the progress of the complaint
filed against the State of Arizona on January 6, 2014,
for Marriage Equality.

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Area couple at heart of ruling


Terry Pochert and Joe Connolly
Terry Pochert (left) and Joe Connolly (right)
Photo by Sarah Ruf, Maricopa Monitor 

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Sara Ruf writing in the Casa Grande Dispatch on October 18, 2014, "...In the end, it all came down to Judge John Sedwick, a visiting judge from the U.S. District Court in Alaska. Sedwick ruled Friday morning that the recent Ninth Circuit Court decision to strike down gay marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho also applied to Arizona.

In a somewhat surprising decision mere hours later, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced he would not appeal Sedwick’s verdict.

After the announcement on Friday morning, the couple released a joint statement: “We have longed for this day for years; for ourselves, for others who have gone before us and for those who will come after us. Opponents who blocked marriage equality through local, state and federal laws and through our court system learned today that legislators and the voting population cannot discriminate. The ‘will of the people’ can never trounce on the rights of a minority.”

Other Pinal County couples wanting to get hitched immediately can now do so.

Just after the Clerk of the Superior Court Office opened for business on Friday morning, it received the first call from someone asking to come on down for a license, said Odette Apodaca, case management director for the clerk’s office.

While the clerk’s office still needs to order the elegant, wedding-esque pieces of license paper stating “applicant” instead of “bride” or “groom” from an outside company, couples can get a license and then return to the office at a later date to switch it.  

Capitol Media Services reported Friday morning that gay rights advocates had stationed ministers at all 15 county courthouses for gay couples wishing to wed immediately after receiving their license on Friday. ..."

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© 2014 Arizona Equality