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.
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.