Mid-Missourians react to gay marriage decision

Friday’s Supreme Court decision did not come as a surprise to Boone County Recorder of Deeds Nora Dietzel.

She said her office has been preparing for this decision and had already updated its marriage application in anticipation of the ruling.

“We had already implemented small changes in our software, like removing the bride and groom title from the marriage application, and begun using first party and second party in place of bride and groom,” she said.

There were also two judges available to perform ceremonies at the Boone County Courthouse for couples who did buy a license Friday.

Dietzel said her staff is ready to give out licenses to same-sex couples the way they would for any other couple.

Julie Rosenfeld and her spouse, Deborah Redding, have been together since 1982 and have been married three times in three different states in order to make sure their marriages were legitimate.

They said they hope people can begin to look at them the same way as they would any other couple.

“Our relationship is absolutely the same type of relationship that husband and wife have and that we are proud and celebrate that,” Rosenfeld said. “We celebrate the fact that we’ve been so committed to each other for so long.”

Feldman and Redding said they are glad to have the protection of the law and hope that will allow them to be more open about their relationship.

“To finally feel like we have the umbrella of the law and we can be proud of who we are and not cover up or hide who we are and say they instead of my wife,” Redding said. “It’s a wonderful day.”

While couples like Rosenfeld and Redding celebrate their victory, some Missouri lawmakers said this isn’t the end of the equality discussion.

“People can still be fired for their sexual orientation, which I think is wrong,” said Rep. Stephen Webber. “I think today is an important step in the journey towards equality, but we haven’t reached the destination yet, and I’m going to keep working for that in Jefferson City.”

Several other counties in Missouri, including Cole, Callaway, Saline and Randolph, are also issuing licenses, but some counties said they still need time to update their online marriage applications to reflect the changes.

For those counties who do need time to make changes, they have 25 days before they need to be absolutely prepared for the law to go into effect.