By Social Media Editor: Cassie Bondie

On Friday, March 22, the cell phones of many teenagers in Howell’s community went off simultaneously, as elated friends and family who had followed the news story of the weekend informed their loved ones about what may have been the biggest news in Michigan thus far in 2014.

A federal judge made Michigan the 18th state in the United States to allow same-sex marriage, striking down Michigan Proposal 04-2 (more commonly known as the Gay Marriage Ban) that was put into place a decade ago, when Michigan voters approved the law with a 58.6% vote. The Gay Marriage Ban did exactly as the title suggests; it did not allow the union of gays or lesbians to be recognized by the state.

According to USA Today, the debate in court began in 2012, when plaintiffs April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, a couple of eight years, filed a lawsuit stating that Michigan had “no rational basis for denying them the right to get married and adopt each other’s children”.

Bernard Friedman, the U.S. District Judge who ruled on the case, stated that, “Just because voters approve something doesn’t make it right, especially when it violates the Constitution.”

By midnight Friday night, at least three different Michigan counties were prepared to give out marriage licenses: Washtenaw, Muskegon, and Oakland counties.

However, Saturday morning told a different story, when Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette requested a stay on the decision on the grounds that he is “upholding his duty to defend the state’s Constitution”.

“The final decision will be made by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Schuette said in an article in the Detroit Free Press. “If the citizens of the state want to change the Constitution, they can, that’s their right. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules a different way, I will honor that.”

Schuette has also explained that Michigan is the ninth state to go through this cycle. Eight other states have gone through the same process, and a stay was issued in each one.

“We’re asking Governor Snyder to abide by the judicial ruling and order your Attorney General to stand down,” state Senator Gretchen Whitmer stated in the same article. “There should be no more wasting our taxpayer dollars and making phony cases about what families should look like with a baloney science. We need to permit equal rights for everyone and acknowledge these beautiful unions that happened this weekend.”

Though Schuette feels differently. The argument of those in favor of the stay states that the citizens of the state of Michigan have the right to stand by the vote that they made in 2004 and that, unless another vote is taken and a new majority recognized, the ruling should be overturned.

“Constitutions are meant to be followed and they can’t be casually dismissed,” he explained.

The first same-sex couple to be married in Michigan, Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar, feel very differently. Said DeJong to the Free Press:

“I do know we’ll be on the right side of history. We need everyone to be and stay engaged in this fight because after 27 years, I’m done waiting.”