First Same-Sex Couple Marries in New Orleans

By Janet McConnaughey, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two men who have been together for nearly 14 years are apparently the first same-sex couple to get married in Louisiana.

Caddo and Bossier Parish clerks also began offering marriage licenses today, according to a story on KSLA.com.

Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Paula Brown told 41-year-old Michael Robinson and 39-year-old Earl Benjamin of New Orleans: "You are now lawfully wedded spouses."

About 40 friends and co-workers attended the hastily arranged lunchtime wedding Monday, days after a historic Supreme Court ruling paved the way for same-sex marriages across the country.

Benjamin got the license in neighboring Jefferson Parish. Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer says the office's attorney spent the weekend poring over the Supreme Court decision and advised Monday that the office needed to act on it immediately.

Louisiana's attorney general and the Louisiana Clerk of Courts Association have advised court clerks to wait 25 days.