Despite an 11h hour appeal to the Supreme Court by minister and former civil rights leader Walter E. Fauntroy to delay the implementation of the Religious Freedom and Civil Rights Equality Amendment Act granting full marriage equality to gays and lesbians in DC, couples are ecstatic about legalizing their unions and will be lining up for marriage licenses tomorrow morning.
Aisha Mils and her fiance' Danielle Moodie (pictured above) are one of these couples. Mills is president of the Campaign for All D.C. Families and Moodie works for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Washington, D.C. Office of Federal Affairs. The couple will be married in August at an interfaith ceremony on Long Island. They've been together for six years.
Reginald Stanley and Rocky Galloway (pictured above with their two children Malena & Zoe) both 50 and long time DC residents will also be applying for marriage licenses and are scheduled to wed during a mass ceremony at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters on March 9.
Participating in the ceremony will be their two children, Jim Cullion (the best man) and Cherrie McCoy (the best woman).
If you're planning on getting married in the district in the coming weeks or in the distant future here's some basic info you need to know:
To apply for a marriage license in the District of Columbia you must visit the D.C. Superior Court Marriage Bureau located in H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse, 500 Indiana Avenue N.W., Room #4485.
By law, three full days must pass between the day of application to the day that the license can be issued. (e.g. if one files an application on Monday the license cannot be issued until Friday). Each party to the marriage must bring proof of identity, such as a driver’s license, government issued non-driver’s identification, birth certificate, passport, or a similar official document.
The application requires the parties to identify the name of the officiant who will perform the marriage ceremony. The officiant is any District of Columbia judge, certain court officials, or anyone who is authorized by a religious organization to officiate marriages, such as a minister, priest, rabbi, imam, so long as he or she is registered with the Marriage Bureau to officiate marriages (To schedule a civil marriage at the courthouse, two weeks’ notice is generally required).
In addition, the costs are $35 for the marriage license application and an additional $10 for the Certificate of Marriage. The fee must be paid in cash or by a money order made out to “Clerk of the Court, D.C. Superior Court”. The marriage license application fee (but not the $10 fee for the Certificate) will be waived for those who present a Domestic Partnerships Certificate registered with the District of Columbia under DC Code §32-702 at the time of application. All fees must be paid before the license will be issued.
If you are part of a District of Columbia Domestic Partnership, upon marrying, your Domestic Partnership automatically dissolves and you are simply married. If you are part of a Domestic Partnership or Civil Union from another state, the other state’s law may require you to dissolve it prior to marrying in the District of Columbia. Check the other state’s law about your responsibilities and obligations relating to dissolving that legal relationship prior to marrying.
Congrats to all of the couples!
h/t Michael Crawford, Director of New Media Freedom To Marry
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