No time wasting: Gay Couples Wed In Utah As Court Strikes Down Same-Sex Marriage Ban (PHOTOS)

Gay couples are lining up in Salt Lake City, Utah, to be married hours after a US judge ruled the state’s ban on gay unions is unconstitutional.

The county clerk began issuing the licences, despite state officials saying they would appeal and seek a order to prevent further marriages.
Judge Robert Shelby ruled a voter-passed 2004 ban violated same-sex couples’ rights to equal protection.
The ruling comes days after New Mexico legalised gay marriage.more photo below

Natalie Dicou, left, and Nichole Christensen, right, wait in line to obtain a marriage license at the Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 20, 2013.

That state’s highest court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny marriage licences to same-sex couples.
’27 years’
The first gay couple to be married in Utah, Michael Ferguson and Seth Anderson, did so about an hour after the ruling was posted.
Among the dozens of same-sex couples lined up to get marriage licences at the Salt Lake County clerk’s office was State Senator Jim Dabakis.

Michael Ferguson (centre-right) and Seth Anderson (right) were the first couple to be married

The chairman of the state’s Democratic party, was there with his longtime partner, Stephen Justesen.
“I waited 27 years,” Mr Dabakis told the Associated Press. “We didn’t want to get married until we could get married in Utah.”
The case was brought by three couples who were denied licences or recognition in the state, including one couple who had been legally married in Iowa.
In his ruling, Judge Shelby said Utah failed to show allowing gay marriages would affect opposite-sex unions.

Laurie Wood, left, and Kody Partridge, kiss after being told that they are officially married Friday in the lobby of Utah’s Salt Lake County offices. (Scott Sommerdorf / Salt Lake Tribune / December 20, 2013)

Rick Bowmer/AP – Derek Kitchen, left, and his partner Moudi Sbeity are the plaintiffs in the Utah case.