Condon(ing) Same-Sex Marriage

West Ashley may soon be home to the state’s first married same-sex gay couple, thanks to a ruling from a federal judge.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel, from the Fourth District, traditionally one of the most conservative benches in the country, struck down the state’s ban on gay marriage.
That seemed to open the door for City Councilperson Colleen Condon to marry Nichols Bleckley on Thursday, weeks after the duo had originally applied for, and tentatively received, a marriage license.
But almost as soon as the federal ruling came down, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson filed an emergency appeal to stay the ban.
Condon, a locally practicing attorney, said she and her legal team, which includes the national Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, filed a response to Wilson’s stay earlier this week.
Federal district courts seem split on the issue, as the Fourth struck down a similar ban in Virginia, but others have supported similar legislation.
Legal experts have said the deck is stacked in Condon’s favor, constitutionally, as to deny her and her fiancée a marriage license would be tantamount to creating a separate class of Americans.
But, Condon pointed out, should Wilson continue to appeal the case, and it were to be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been assigned the Fourth as his purview, may weigh in.
“I never knew Chief Justice Roberts would play such a big role in my life and in my marriage plans,” Condon said Friday, laughing.
Condon and her future wife may not be the first to challenge the state’s ban, but they plan on being the first to defeat it.