Same-sex marriage licenses issued in Idaho

Same-sex couples are getting marriage licenses throughout Idaho.

Officials began issuing same-sex marriage licenses at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

In Bannock County the first same-sex couple to get their marriage license was Shawn Smith and Rick Fowler.

“I feel normal again,” said Smith. “It feels like, ‘Hey, I’m part of a country again that wants me to be a part of them.'”

Fowler called the experience overwhelming.

“We’ve been together for seven years and we never thought this would happen, so it’s exciting that we’re finally getting the chance to get married like everyone else,” he said.

Bonneville County issued the most marriage licenses in eastern Idaho. Seven couples, including Johanna Thompson and Shannon Havins, waited outside the clerk’s office. This was their second attempt after the state filed an emergency injunction early October.

“It’s amazing and unbelievable at the same time. We’re finally done with the emotional roller coaster and we can get married like everybody else,” said Thompson.

Unitarian Universalist reverend Lyn Cameron made herself available outside the Bonneville County courthouse to marry same-sex couples on the spot.

“I can only equate it to the way our Unitarian ministers must have felt when they walked with Dr. King (Marin Luther King Jr.),” said Cameron. “It is being part of a movement that is bigger than we are, but is essential to the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy as Americans citizens.”

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said Tuesday in a statement that the state had done all it could through the courts to defend traditional marriage.

That announcement came a day after Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden dropped his opposition to the most recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift the state’s ban on gay marriage.

In the past week, some Idaho couples have made multiple journeys to get marriage licenses only to find last-minute court decisions blocked the way.

Jefferson, Madison, Fremont and Teton counties said they did not have any same-sex couples apply for a marriage license Wednesday.