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Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant made history Thursday morning. Thanks to a temporary restraining order from a Travis County district judge, the couple became the first same-sex duo in Texas to receive a marriage license.
Judge David Wahlberg ordered the Travis County clerk to issue the couple a marriage license and to “cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license specifically to Plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant,” because of health concerns faced by one of the women.
The order applies only to Goodfriend and Bryant, the court said. Any additional marriage licenses for same-sex couples would also have to be court-ordered at this point, according to the clerk’s office.
The marriage comes on the heels of a Tuesday ruling by a Travis County probate judge that said Texas’ gay marriage ban was unconstitutional. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has disputed that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, saying that the probate judge, Guy Herman, made a ruling that exceeded the authority of his court.
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