Five same-sex couples in Deschutes County took the first step toward marriage Monday afternoon, just hours after a federal judge overturned Oregon’s ban on gay marriage.

In a ruling on to two separate lawsuits brought by four couples Monday, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane wrote that the Oregon law that limited marriage to one man and one woman violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“My decision will not be the final word on this subject, but on this issue of marriage I am struck more by our similarities than our differences,” McShane wrote.

Central Oregon greeted the judge’s decision with less fanfare than larger metropolitan areas around the state. There was no line at the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office Monday, as five same-sex couples stopped by to obtain marriage licenses Monday afternoon. Meredith Schreiber, 51, of Salem, happened to be on vacation in Sunriver with her partner of more than a dozen years when the judge struck down the state ban. Although the couple did not pack fancy clothes and already had a commitment ceremony six years ago, they decided to marry in Deschutes County this week. “I feel like I’m no longer a second-class citizen in a state in which I’ve lived my whole life,” Schreiber said, while filling out a marriage license at the clerk’s office.

The first same-sex couple to get a marriage license in Deschutes County was Dale McCracken, 59, and George Jackson, 56, of Bend. “We’ve been together almost 20 years,” said Jackson, who was born and raised in Bend. “I’m happy today. It’s a great decision.”

McShane’s decision Monday was the latest chapter in a decade filled with legal uncertainty for the couple. McCracken and Jackson married in Portland when Multnomah County began issuing licenses in 2004. “Then they took it away,” Jackson said, referring to the ban on gay marriage that voters passed later that year. McCracken and Jackson registered as domestic partners in 2008. “We’re just going to do a simple ceremony and that’s it,” Jackson said. “We’ve done this before, and now we’re just going to make it legal again. We already did the partying in 2004. We just want to get it right again.”

Erin Rook, 31, of Bend, filled out the paperwork for a marriage license with his partner at the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office Monday. Rook and his partner, who declined to give his name, got engaged 18 months ago and plan to marry in July. “It’s nice to be able to get married in the state you live in and for me, the state you grew up in,” Rook said. “It’s nice to not have to make that trip (out of state to marry) and have that sense of pride in knowing your relationship is recognized at home and in your community.”

Earlier Monday, the group National Organization for Marriage filed an emergency motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay any district court ruling. The national organization, which opposes gay marriage, asked the appeals court to put any district court decision on hold until the appeals court issues a decision on the National Organization for Marriage’s appeal of McShane’s decision that the organization could not intervene and argue in favor of Oregon’s ban on gay marriage. In an order Monday morning, the appeals court denied the motion for a stay. In a statement Monday, the organization’s president Brian Brown said, “The people of Oregon are entitled to a defense of their decision on marriage rather than being abandoned in court.”

Supporters of gay marriage had been collecting signatures to put a measure on the November ballot to legalize gay marriage, but said if the ban was overturned they would drop their efforts. That group, Oregon United for Marriage, has not yet made a formal decision on how to proceed.

McShane’s opinion also included some personal references. “Generations of Americans, my own included, were raised in a world in which homosexuality was believed to be a moral perversion, a mental disorder or a mortal sin. … Even today I am reminded of the legacy that we have bequeathed today’s generation when my son looks dismissively at the sweater I bought him for Christmas and, with a roll of his eyes, says, ‘Dad … that is so gay,’” McShane wrote.

Oregon law requires a three-day waiting period for a wedding to be held after a marriage license is issued, although clerks can waive the waiting period. Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said the county would continue to honor the waiting period because in her experience with heterosexual marriages, some people benefit from having a few days to fully consider the decision to wed. Blankenship said that in some cases, heterosexual couples called the clerk’s office only a couple of days after their marriage seeking information about annulment. Couples who still want to marry sooner could request a waiver from a judge, she said.

Blankenship said it took less than an hour to update the county’s software to issue same-sex marriage licenses. “In less than 45 minutes, we were ready to go, so I think that’s pretty amazing,” Blankenship said.

Mike Lovely, 76, of Bend, said he and his partner Kelly McDonald have been a couple for 35 years and plan to get married. “It’s a long time coming,” Lovely said. “Some people are going to grouse about it, but equality’s equality, and I’ve been tired of being a second-class citizen for so many years.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, hborrud@bendbulletin.com