Penn. Clerk to Appeal Ban on Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses

Wants to take it to state supreme court

Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage battle headed to the state's supreme court on Tuesday when a county clerk appealed a lower court's September order to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes landed in the public spotlight in July when he began issuing gay marriage licenses, saying that a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that knocked down a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act also made Pennsylvania's statutes against same-sex nuptials invalid.

In Hanes' appeal, county lawyers who are supporting his case argued that the September 12 court order that stopped him from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples contained legal and factual errors.