Perry County issues first two same-sex marriage licenses

Billy Edward Harris, 40, and Jason Werle, 33, of Pinckneyville, thought they would be the first to be issued a marriage license in Perry County under Illinois' new same sex marriage law--called the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.

But, they actually received their marriage license at 1 p.m., a few hours behind Gregory Lee Holt and Richard Nelson Gleason, who were in the office earlier in the day.

Harris and Werle have been together for 10 years and in June 2011 were united under Illinois' Civil Union legislation.

As of Thursday, they are married under the law and benefit from substantially all of the laws and entitlements of different sex marriages.

Essentially, on Thursday they traded their Civil Union status for a marriage license.

Citing the legislation, it "provides that all laws of Illinois applicable to marriage apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples and their children; parties to a marriage and their children, regardless of whether the marriage is of a same-sex or different-sex couple, have the same benefits, protections, and responsibilities under law; parties to a marriage are included in any definition or use of terms such as "spouse," "family," "immediate family," "dependent," "next of kin," "wife," "husband," "bride," "groom," "wedlock" and other terms that refer to or denote the spousal relationship."

The couple is well known in Pinckneyville. Harris is a member of the Perry County Fair board. Werle is an employee of the Pinckneyville Dairy Queen.

"Everybody in Pinckneyville knows us," says Harris. "It's not a secret."

With respect to the Marriage Fairness Act, Werle said, "It's about time."

"It's 2014 for God's sake." he adds.

The couple lived in Missouri for five years and moved back to Pinckneyville five years ago.

The certificate they received wasn't all gold and ivory, but certainly legal.

Perry County Clerk Josh Gross said at recent meetings with county clerks, it was agreed that both the law and the culture are changing and Gross said office's mission is to serve Perry County.

Harris and Werle say they are planning a wedding celebration for sometime in December.