HRC calls on state officials to remove obstacles to marriage without delay

The Human Rights Campaign called on state officials to act with all deliberate speed to remove remaining obstacles to marriage equality.

The HRC, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights group, made the call following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down bans on same-sex marriage and clearing the way for marriage equality nationwide.

The HRC sent letters to the governors and attorneys general in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas, all states where marriage licenses were not previously being issued to same-sex couples statewide, and in Alabama, where the state supreme court had sought to obstruct the issuance of marriage licenses.

HRC’s legal director Sarah Warbelow, in the letters, said, “In order to be in full compliance with the law, we urge you to take immediate action to ensure that all Justices of the Peace begin issuing marriage licenses to all eligible couples immediately. …Delaying the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples is not only unlawful, but allows the discriminatory impacts of an unconstitutional law to continue.” 

In a 5-4 ruling issued on June 26, the majority of the Supreme Court made clear that bans on marriage equality did not pass constitutional muster.