Once Approved, Same-Sex Marriages Will Follow Normal Process

The Sonoma County Clerk’s office will start performing same-sex weddings by late July and is scrambling to find more space to meet the increased demand.

The office received approximately 15 calls Wednesday asking when same sex wedding would start, Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Bill Rousseau said Thursday. “There’s been high interest from people,” he told Patch.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case challenging the ban on same-sex marriage on a technicality, ruling that opponents of same-sex marriage could not effectively prove that gay marriage would affect them and therefore had no legal standing.

The nation’s highest court also overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The decision recognizes gay and lesbian marriages in the 12 states that allow them, plus the District of Columbia, and grants them the same benefits as those now enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

But it will take 25 days before the Supreme Court issues their mandate, meaning the law won’t go into effect until at least July 22.

In the meantime, the Sonoma County Clerk’s office, where civil ceremonies are usually performed, is scrambling to find additional space to meet the expected increase.

“We have some conference rooms that we use, as well as arbors,” Rosseau said. “But we will be ready.”

Once the stay is lifted, Rousseau says his office expects an increased volume of applicants for these services. He also indicated that members of the public visiting the Clerk’s Office for other business should be prepared for potentially longer than normal wait times, although every effort will be made to accommodate public need.

Marriage licenses are issued by the County Clerk’s Office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Parties to the marriage must appear together, with valid government-issued photo identification.

More information about marriage license requirements can be found on the Clerk’s website at http://www.sonoma-county.org/clerk/. Applications for a Sonoma County marriage licenses can be completed online at https://clerkdocs.sonoma-county.org/.

Wedding ceremonies at the Clerk’s Office are by appointment only. Interested couples can call 707-565-3800 for more information about ceremonies and for ceremony availability. Wedding ceremonies are offered in English or Spanish, and can be performed in one of several private rooms, or in the public courtyard.

- Petaluma Patch editor Karina Ioffee contributed to this report.