SALT LAKE CITY (AP) | Many Utah couples are celebrating their fifth anniversary this month and looking back on their rush to wed after a federal judge had become the first in the country to strike down a state ban on gay marriage.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled that Utah’s laws against same-sex marriage were unconstitutional on Dec. 20, 2013, leading to more than 1,200 couples dashing to county clerks’ offices to become legally married during the 17-day window after the ruling.
Michael Ferguson and Seth Anderson were among that group. They hurried to the Salt Lake County Government Center on that Friday before Christmas after an attorney friend told them.
Ferguson says county employees “all gasped” when he was the first to request a marriage license.
