US: Idaho gay rights campaigners protest after same-sex weddings stopped in state
Hundreds of campaigners took to the steps of an Idaho courthouse to protest a stay which was placed on the issue of marriage licences to same-sex couples in the state.
Idaho judge Candy Dale had struck down the state’s marriage ban on Tuesday, and had originally refused to stay her decision, allowing for same-sex weddings to begin on Friday.
The Associated Press reports that almost 200 gay rights supporters took to the steps of the Boise courthouse.
The campaigners had planned to party in celebration of the first marriages to take place, however the celebration did not take place as weddings will not take place until the appeals court rules.
Same-sex couples in the state hope they will be able to marry soon.
Appealing for the temporary stay, Governor Butch Otter’s attorney had warned: “There is likely to be a repetition in Idaho of the chaos, confusion, conflict, uncertainty and spawn of further litigation and administrative actions seen in Utah and, to a lesser extent, in Michigan.”
In Utah and Michigan, couples were left in limbo when a stay was issued putting same-sex marriage bans back into place, after marriages had already begun.
Same-sex marriage is legal in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
Following other rulings this week it is currently also legal in an eighteenth state, Arkansas, with marriages set to resume in some counties tomorrow.
