Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@shawanoleader.com
Contributed Photo Shawano residents Jamey Spencer, left, and his fiance, Ivan Machmueller, are hoping to take advantage of the federal court ruling that overturned Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage. The two have been engaged since December 2011.
The Shawano County clerk’s office is accepting marriage applications from same-sex couples.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb late Friday declared Wisconsin’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional but did not issue an order telling the state how to implement her decision. She is mulling whether to adopt a proposed order from the American Civil Liberties union that would force clerks to issue licenses.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, meanwhile, says the ban is still in place since Crabb didn’t issue a clear order halting enforcement. He has appealed the decision and asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to order that licenses stop being issued.
The court has given Van Hollen and the ACLU until 5 p.m. Wednesday for motions on whether it has the authority to act before Crabb does.
On Monday morning, Shawano County Clerk Rosemary Rueckert told the Leader she would need a new form from the state before she could legally issue the licenses.
Rueckert said Tuesday, however, that her office will now accept marriage applications from same-sex couples but, on the advice of Corporation Counsel Tony Kordus, could not waive the five-day waiting period like some other counties are doing.
The latest count Tuesday by The Associated Press shows clerks in 49 Wisconsin counties are issuing licenses to same-sex couples who want to get married.
Twenty-three of the state’s 72 county clerks’ offices say they are waiting for direction from the court or state.
Rueckert was not expecting a rush on licenses similar to Dane and Milwaukee counties, where more than 200 couples were married Friday and Saturday. She said she has processed seven applications for same-sex domestic partnerships since that law took effect on Aug. 3, 2009.
“I had one person inquiring, but no one that came down here,” Rueckert said Tuesday.
Crabb’s ruling was welcome news to Jamey Spencer, a Shawano resident engaged to Ivan Machmueller, whom he met 4½ years ago. Spencer and Machmueller did not expect that Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban would be overturned this soon.
“I was shocked. I thought we would have been waiting many years,” Spencer said. “I thought Wisconsin would have been one of the last ones (to get same-sex marriage rights).”
Machmueller proposed to Spencer on the steps of the state Capitol in December 2011 during a visit to see the annual Christmas tree display. The couple moved in 2012 to Shawano.
“We just want to get the same rights as everyone else,” Spencer said. “We’re basically like any other couple. We’re just wanting fair treatment.”
Although some couples opt to have a wedding without the legal benefits of marriage, Spencer said he and Machmueller felt it was best to wait until it was legal.
“We’re in the works of setting a date and planning it all,” Spencer said.