Gay marriage is halted in the Florida Keys

Last week a judge in Monroe County announced Florida’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, sending a flurry of comments on social media of gay couples who expressed plans to get married in the Florida Keys. The date the weddings were supposed to start: Tuesday. But the day arrived and no one is getting married.

State Attorney General Pam Bondi—a conservative Republican?almost automatically put the ruling on hold, when she expressed she planned to appeal.

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The original couple who are the center of the legal fight in the Florida Keys are bartenders Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones; after dating for many years they filed suit against Monroe County Clerk of Courts Amy Heavilin, because their marriage license was denied. They expected to get their marriage certificate this Tuesday; Judge Luis Garcia wanted to wait several days before the weddings were allowed to give courts time to prepare for the influx of applicants.

Huntsman and Jones had filed an emergency motion yesterday hoping to wed, despite Bondi’s objections, but the judge denied the motion, which means the same-sex marriage ban will remain in effect while it’s appealed.

Even if the ruling wouldn’t be appealed, the weddings would’ve only taken place in the Monroe County, not the rest of the State of Florida.

Nonetheless much was hinging on this decision in terms of politics throughout the state. This includes gay couples from Miami willing to make the drive South of more than an hour get married.

Also, attorneys from several same-sex couples who filed a lawsuit earlier in the year in South Florida are closely watching the Monroe County case as they await their turn in court, demanding the right to marry.

“We’re a little disappointed but it was expected,” Jones told Reuters. “I think it’s all part of a strategy to get this going faster into the upper courts. We’ve been waiting 11 years to do this, a bit longer is not going to kill us.”

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Judge Garcia, the same one who upheld the stay of the marriage ban, noted that other courts had decided “to stay proceedings in similar challenges.”

Similar proceedings have taken place in other states, including Utah and Oklahoma, where gay marriage is on hold while appeals are being resolved.