Jeff Auer, left, and his wife, Nicholas Kearney, in the First Methodist Church on Tuesday Oct. 7, 2014 where they were married in 2013. The state of Nevada has not recognized the union.(Photo: Marilyn Newton/RGJ)
As he stood inside Reno's First United Methodist Church on Tuesday, Nicholas Martin-Kearney relived his wedding day.
His hands were shaking following the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to strike down Nevada's law banning gay marriage. He said his emotions matched that of his wedding day in downtown Reno last year.
"Hearing the news today, I relived our wedding all over again and I started crying when I read it because in a blink of an eye…it's all changed," said Kearney, who married Jeff Auer in August 2013 — the first gay couple to be married at the church in Reno. While the church recognizes the union, the state of Nevada has not since voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2002 banning same sex marriages.
While that's about to change, just when Kearney and Auer can obtain a marriage license from the Washoe County Clerk's office is uncertain.
Unlike Idaho, which can start issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples today following Tuesday's ruling, the appeals court remanded the case back to the district court in Nevada, which must issue an injunction.
"Right now the law still stands of marriage in the state of Nevada is between a male and a female and I wouldn't be able to go against that," Washoe County Clerk Nancy Parent said.
But she's ready to go once the injunction comes down.
"It's just a matter of time now … (before) your county clerks will be able to issue same sex marriage licenses," Parent said.
WEDDING PLANNING
Regardless of the wait, gay marriage advocates in Nevada celebrated the news on Tuesday, including Karen Vibe of Reno.
Vibe and partner Karen Goody were among the eight couples who first sued the state of Nevada for its same-sex marriage ban in 2012. Now, their plans to get married can move full-speed ahead.
Gays, lesbians and their supporters gather by the Reno Arch for a quick photo during the Celebration Rally for Marriage Equality that started at the Downtown Plaza Tuesday evening Oct. 7, 2014.(Photo: Marilyn Newton/RGJ)
"We were expecting a favorable decision, so we have been preparing little by little," said Vibe, a Reno financial planner. "We were not sure if this was going to be announced this year or not. So now, we are tremendously excited and in full force to shift our focus to planning a wedding and we will be ready to go."
Their nuptials are planned for the weekend of Nov. 15 and 16 — the anniversary of when Vibe and Goody started seeing each other.
Marriage is important to Vibe and Goody, who did not register as domestic partners under Nevada's domestic partner law. That law was passed by the 2009 Legislature over the veto of then-Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.
"I didn't want to be domestic partners," Vibe said. "I wanted to be legally married."
Kearney said the news on Tuesday felt surreal.
"I'm a middle-aged man now," Kearney said. "As a young gay man, I never thought I'd have this opportunity. To know that I had it, the state caught up all within less than a year is amazing. It's surreal. It makes me shake. If this is what we are capable of as a people, what else are we capable of? How else can we break down barriers?"
CLERK'S OFFICE FIELDS CALLS
While Washoe County Clerk's Office was completely empty Tuesday afternoon, the phone was ringing off the hook as Parent scrambled to figure out when she might be able to start issuing licenses.
"When can I get married," read one of the phone messages.
Earlier this year, when Gov. Brian Sandoval and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto withdrew their opposition to challenge, Parent's office began getting ready for same sex marriage.
"We are ready," she said. "We have revised all our forms."
Parent said she's excited about the change.
"Back in the boom days we were issuing 37,000 licenses a year. Last year, we didn't issue even 8,800," she said. "We only have four standalone wedding chapels left and they're starving. This would be great for them."
George Flint, an owner of a wedding chapel in Reno and the wedding industry lobbyist at the Nevada Legislature, said he was viewing the 9th Circuit Court's decision with "optimistic caution."
"I'm optimistic because it could be a shot in the arm for the wedding industry in Nevada," said Flint. "In Northern Nevada, business is off about 70% of the last quarter century.
"My caution comes into play because we need to take a very careful look as how we handle same-sex marriage in our wedding chapels, only because our other clients may or may not be comfortable with this new and unique approach to marriage," he said. "So I think we need to practice some sort of caution in that we, at least to begin, may want to schedule our appointments to where we don't have different types of marriages on top of each other."
OPPONENTS COMPLAIN OF JUDICIAL ACTIVISM
Janie Hansen, who helped lead the push in 2000 and 2002 to pass the gay marriage ban in Nevada, decried the court's decision on Tuesday.
"The overturning of Nevada's constitutional amendment upholding traditional marriage between a man and a woman by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a tragedy of epic proportions," said Hansen, state president of Nevada Families for Freedom and Independent American Party candidate for Nevada's 2nd District U.S. House Seat.
"This is a very dark day for our children and grandchildren who will live in a corrupt society which has rejected the importance of family values."
She said voters in 2000 and 2002 voted overwhelmingly by nearly 70% to approve the constitutional amendment that said marriage be between a man and a woman.
"Now by judicial activism, the will of the people is overturned by un-elected, unaccountable federal judges," she said. "We are no longer a republic having lost our rights as 'we the people' to the dictatorial judiciary.
Contributing: Anjeanette Damon
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