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2013 IN REVIEW: Same-Sex Marriage In Pennsylvania

By Brad Segall

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- The Register of Wills in Montgomery County stirred the pot this summer when he began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That brought about a lawsuit from the Corbett Administration calling for that practice to end.

Bruce Hanes began issuing licenses to same-sex couples in July after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The county issued 174 licenses, many of those couples got married, but then Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini issued an order calling on Hanes to stop. Hanes abided by the order.

"In my opinion and in the opinion of two or three or four people that I consider pretty good legal minds in the solicitor's office and in my office, I did the right thing," Hanes said.

Among the first couples to get a license was Loreen Bloodgood who showed up with her partner Alicia Terrizzi. They were the first gay couple to marry in Pennsylvania.

"We believe in it," Bloodgood said. "Not only for ourselves and the love that we have, but we think it's really important to show our children that we are a family and we are just like their friends that have moms and dads."

The county has filed an appeal on behalf of Hanes, asking the state Supreme Court to take a look at Judge Pellegrini's ruling.

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