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Same-Sex Couples Get Hitched in Eugene

Barb Bellows and Pam Irwin lined up to get a marriage license in Eugene.
Jes Burns
Barb Bellows and Pam Irwin lined up to get a marriage license in Eugene.

Dozens of same-sex couples lined up at the Lane County Building in Eugene to apply for marriage licenses Monday afternoon.  Many left work early after a federal judge ruled at noon that Oregon’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.  

Barb Bellows and Pam Irwin lined up to get a marriage license in Eugene.
Credit Jes Burns
Barb Bellows and Pam Irwin lined up to get a marriage license in Eugene.

Pam Irwin and Barb Bellows rushed over to clerk’s office on their lunch break.  

Bellows: “I’d been sitting on the internet, refreshing, waiting for the judgment to come down from the judge.  It was what?  12:03, 12:04?  She sent out an email saying ‘I do.’”  

Irwin and Bellows plan to get married tonight at Davis’ Restaurant in downtown Eugene, where gay marriage advocates, couples and their families are celebrating the ruling.

 

Copyright 2014 KLCC

Jes Burns is a reporter for OPB's Science & Environment unit. Jes has a degree in English literature from Duke University and a master's degree from the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communications.