SALT LAKE CITY --Eleven hours before the office opens and 12 hours before a scheduled hearing on a motion that would halt gay marriages in Utah, same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses were already lining up at the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office.
Hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to county clerk's offices this weekend after a federal judge overturned Utah's ban on same-sex marriage.
Michael Aaron, publisher of Q Salt Lake--an LGBT magazine, said, "It's very possible that we may actually see 1,000 couples married during this short time."
Aaron said he has been contacted by numerous readers seeking information about the situation regarding same-sex marriage in Utah.
An Emergency Motion to Stay filed in the 10th Circuit Court was denied Sunday, and the 10th District Court will hold a hearing on a Motion to Stay pending an appeal Monday at 9 a.m.
As many as 120 same-sex couples were married in Salt Lake County Friday after the ruling and before the clerk's office closed. The office stayed open late Friday night.Same-sex marriages were also performed in Cache, Davis and Washington counties Friday.
FOX 13 News' Todd Tanner took a look at the legal issues involved, and he also spoke with individuals who are eager to obtain a same-sex marriage in Utah while they can. See the video above for those interviews.
Several Utah politicians and advocacy groups spoke out over the weekend, expressing their opposition and intention to take legal action to stop same-sex marriages from continuing in Utah.
Groups advocating for same-sex marriage in Utah encouraged people to take advantage of the limited window in which marriage licenses were guaranteed to be granted in several counties.
In a post on their Facebook page, Equality Utah said, “Worst case scenario we will only have 1 hour in which marriages can be performed by the respective county clerks.”
In the post titled, “Everything you need to know about getting married tomorrow morning” Equality Utah said they had confirmed that Salt Lake and Weber county clerks would be open and ready to marry people “exactly at 8am”. The post advised couples to download and fill out their applications online ahead of time to expedite the process.
Brandie Balken, Executive Director of Equality Utah, confirmed the details of the posting to FOX 13 News over the phone Sunday.
