Terry Pochert and Joseph Connolly are Among Those Who Changed History
At 10:36 a.m. on Friday, October 17, Michael Jeanes tweeted his followers: “Welcome All to the Clerk’s Office. Your marriage license awaits, and we are ready to serve you!”
The most important word in the Maricopa County Superior Court clerk’s message was “All.” Soon security officers held open the doors to the clerk’s Customer Service Center downtown, and a line of same-sex couples began to enter.
The first, Nelda Majors and Karen Bailey, have been together for more than five decades. But it wasn’t until that day that the state of Arizona allowed them to obtain marriage licenses.
Next were Kevin Patterson and David Larance, who obtained Maricopa County’s second same-sex marriage license. Larance and Patterson have been together for eight years and are raising two daughters, so they didn’t feel the need to plan a large wedding.
Instead, they married in the courtyard outside the clerk’s office, becoming the first gay couple to legally marry in Maricopa County and perhaps in the state.
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