Michigan will recognize 300 gay marriages from 2014

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced today the state will recognize about 300 same-sex marriages conducted last year before a judge ordered clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

After a federal judge struck down the state’s voter-approved law protecting marriage between one man and one woman, same-sex couples in four counties immediately got married. But the state appealed the ruling, and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the marriages to stop until the legal challenge could be settled. The 6th Circuit ultimately ruled the state’s voters had a right to define marriage as they saw fit. The same-sex couples appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed last month to hear the case.

A final determination on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage is expected by June, but Michigan couples who married on the one day in March when they could get licenses argued they shouldn’t have to wait another six months to have their unions recognized. A federal judge agreed, ruling the marriages are valid until the Supreme Court says otherwise.

“I appreciate that the larger question will be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court this year,” Snyder said in a statement. “This is an issue that has been divisive across our country. … I know there are strong feelings on both sides of this issue, and it’s vitally important for an expedient resolution that will allow people in Michigan, as well as other states, to move forward together on the other challenges we face.”

The state’s decision not to appeal the marriage recognition ruling means the couples can file tax returns together, apply for state benefits, purchase family health insurance plans, and begin adoption proceedings.