300 same-sex marriage licenses issued in Michigan after ban struck down

Clerks in four Michigan counties have issued more than 300 licenses to same-sex couples.

The first to do so Saturday was Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, who approved 57 in all.

The licenses also issued in Washtenaw, Oakland and Muskegon counties came a day after Michigan's gay marriage ban was struck down by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman.

A federal appeals court later Saturday suspended gay marriages in Michigan, at least until Wednesday.

The specter of such a stay didn't keep Elizabeth Patten away from the Washtenaw County building in Ann Arbor during the early morning hours of Saturday. Shortly after the clerk's doors opened, she had a license and headed downstairs where a judge married her and 28-year partner Jonnie Terry.

Patten says the experience "was really surreal."