LAS VEGAS — Same-sex couples began getting married Thursday in Las Vegas — the self-proclaimed marriage capital of the world — ending a legal fight that kept them waiting for days.
Thomas Topovski cried as the Clark County clerk announced to cheers that marriage licenses would finally be issued. He and Jefferson Ruck, his partner of 14 years, returned Thursday for their marriage license after standing in line for hours the day before.
About 10 same-sex couples were standing in line as the announcement came shortly after 5 p.m.
State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson wed Sherwood Howard shortly after same-sex couples began receiving marriage licenses.
About 430 miles north, Kristy Best and Wednesday Smith became the first same-sex couple in the state to get a license about 3 p.m. Thursday, said Elizabeth Phelps, a clerk in the Carson City marriage license office.
The hopes of same-sex couples in Nevada had been in limbo since the 9th Circuit ruled Tuesday that the couples’ equal protection rights were violated by same-sex marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho.
Same-sex couples in West Virginia began receiving marriage licenses Thursday after the state’s attorney general dropped his fight opposing the unions. At least one couple was married in a civil ceremony in Huntington, the Herald-Dispatch reported.
