peripathetic

US: An Oregon County bans all marriage
Because it was due to start issuing marriage licenses of gay couples, and amid a deluge of American lawsuits arguing for and against gay marriage, Benton County has stopped issuing marriage licenses until the State decides on what is legal and what isn't.

This is really interesting, because since straights don't get to marry either until resolution, it could mean any one of the following:

1. The State does not want to suspend gay marriages while allowing straight licenses to be issued and therefore be discriminatory in law;
2. The State does not want to be *seen* to be discriminatory, and while actually wishing to ban gay marriage only, it bans straight marriages for a time so that when gay marriage licenses are withdrawn completely, it can point to fairness of process;
3. The State ultimately intends to uphold gay marriage licenses and is currently withdrawing all leave to marry so that it can make a decision without gangs of screaming poofs outside - action which would only in the end be seized on by the anti-gay lobby as evidence of coercion.

So it's a very clever move. But as well as that, for the first time ever in such a legal minefield, a State has effectively said "Since we need to decide whether gays can marry at the moment, you straight people can't get married either until this is solved, and if you don't like that, go somewhere else with your rings". Window-dressing, or a real step forward?