By AP AND BTL STAFF
DETROIT – Families and friends gathered Sunday in four Michigan counties to celebrate the anniversary of over 300 same-sex couples who wed last year during a brief legal window as a result of a challenge to Michigan's 2004 constitutional ban on gay marriages.
In the few hours between federal district court judge Bernard Friedman's ruling overturning the state's same-sex marriage ban and a federal appeals court decision freezing its implementation, 323 marriages were performed March 22, 2014 in Ingham, Muskegon, Oakland and Washtenaw counties where clerks chose to open their doors to accommodate couples.
Now that case and others from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee are set to be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court April 28.
"Every time we introduce each other, 'This is my husband,' it has such a powerful impact," said Greg McNeilly, celebrating with husband Douglas Meeks at Midtown Brewing Company in Lansing.
"This weekend's anniversary celebrations were incredible. We heard from many of the couples that the events felt like reunions — a chance for folks to catch up with people they had met while standing in line at the clerk's office a year ago," said Gina Calcagno, spokeswoman for Michigan for Marriage.
Roughly 60 people attended the afternoon anniversary event held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ann Arbor. Attendees included Washtenaw County Clerk, Lawrence Kestenbaum, who was one of the four clerks to open his doors last year; State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor; Elizabeth Patten and her wife Jonnie Terry, the first couple married in Washtenaw County; and many others. Roughly 35 people were at /aut/BAR later that evening for champagne and celebration. Just shy of 100 people attended the Ingham County event at the Midtown Brewing Company which was attended by the first couple married in the state, Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar, and other members of the community.
Despite the cakes and the champagne, Calcagno said it was a "bittersweet" anniversary because of the fact that the same-sex marriage ban remains in effect in Michigan.
"The parties also served as a reminder that there are still couples across the state whose relationships are not recognized. Same-sex couples who didn't happen to get to a certain county courthouse on a certain Saturday in March a year ago can't get married in the state of Michigan," Calcagno said.
The difference between those who made it through the window last year and those who didn't was a matter of luck as much as anything, Calcagno said. They not only had to be "in the right county" but also had to "wake up early enough."
The earliest of the early, she said, were DeJong and Caspar, who were married at 8:05 a.m. by Ingham County Clerk Barbara Byrum, five minutes after opening her office on March 22, 2014.
Doug Meeks and McNeilly had been together about 11 years before they made their relationship a legal one last year in Ingham County.
"It's been amazing," said McNeilly, a 43-year-old executive with a Grand Rapids venture capital business. "It's been a wonderful year for both of us."
"Marriage does matter, and we're both very lucky to have been able to get married a year ago," said Meeks, a 38-year-old lawyer in private practice in Lansing. "The word marriage — there are ideas behind it like loyalty, commitment, love."
