A married lesbian couple in metro Atlanta was initially relieved when a Sandy Springs DMV clerk accepted their Massachusetts marriage license to hyphenate one partner’s last name. But a petition hit the fan after the same office turned her wife down flat a short time later.
It seems which way the wind blows determines the outcome of such dilemmas these days. Nearly every facet of public life is affected by an attempt to balance federal law and shifting public opinion with conflicting decisions state-to-state, agency-by-agency and sometimes between two coworkers in the same office. The AJC breaks it down.
Danielle McCollum was trying to add the last name of her wife, Shakira Tucker, to her Georgia driver's license this month.
The couple, both 24, in July got married in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is legal. But they live in Georgia, where voters overwhelmingly voted to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage.
Tucker had no problem last month getting her last name changed on her license to McCollum-Tucker. But when McCollum went to the same Department of Driver Services office in Sandy Springs earlier this month and showed the same marriage certificate, she was denied.
CBS Atlanta spoke to the couple (video above), who have started an online petition that has already garnered thousands of signatures. A state official says that the second DMV employee who denied the name change made the correct call, and now that word is out, the first wife’s name-change could be voided. Apparently in Georgia, your license plate can be gayer than your driver's license.
Photo via CBS Atlanta
