December 3rd, 2012 by WCBC Radio
Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, in a legal opinion issued last week, indicates that court clerks can begin accepting applications for same-sex marriage licenses immediately and issue them as soon as Dec. 6 as long as they specify that the licenses don’t take effect until Jan. 1. Gansler also noted in the 19-page opinion that marriage ceremonies may be performed starting Jan. 1, when the law is scheduled to take effect. While Maryland’s same-sex marriage law was approved by voters last month, there were questions about how the law would go into effect, because Jan. 1 is a holiday when courts would be closed. Technically, Gansler says clerks may begin issuing marriage licenses after the law is formally proclaimed to have been approved by the voters, an action Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to take on Dec. 6. Clerks of court then may begin issuing marriage licenses, if they bear a Jan. 1 effective date. The governor says that every effort was made in drafting the bill that was on the ballot to provide religious freedom…
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