Community Corner

OC Clerk's Office Sees Spike in Marriages, Many Same-Sex

About 30 marriages are typically done on Mondays in Orange County, but today more than 70 civil ceremonies were performed, most of which were same-sex couples, county officials reported.

By City News Service

Orange County's Clerk-Recorder Office logged about double the number of marriages done on an average Monday, with most of the licenses issued Monday to same-sex couples.

The county's three clerk offices in Fullerton, Laguna Hills and Santa Ana average a total of about 30 marriages on Mondays, Christina Aguilar of the marriage license department said. But about 70 civil ceremonies were done Monday -- the first chance for same-sex couples to marry since last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for same-sex couples to resume.

Because the high court refused to take up the legal dispute over 2008's Proposition 8, a lower federal court ruling will stand that says Proposition 8,
which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, is
unconstitutional under the equal protection under the law clause.

Most of the marriage licenses issued in Orange County today were for
same-sex couples, Aguilar said, though she said her staff was not allowed to
track how many were for same-sex or heterosexual couples.

"We got maybe one extra staff member to help out in the morning,'' Aguilar said, adding that demand was steady but not unexpectedly high.

"The mood's been great, and there's been a steady flow all day,'' Aguilar said. Most of the couples, according to his staff, were "very happy... very gracious, appreciative.''

The pace of same-sex unions was higher in 2008, before voters statewide
approved  Proposition 8, which was recently undone, Aguilar said. She did not
have figures for how many licenses were issued today. Before the passage of
Prop 8, the county did not have a clerk's office in Fullerton.

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