23 same-sex couples get licenses in Spokane
Spokane County officials issued 23 marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday on the first day that became legal in Washington state.
That was, not surprisingly, the most of any Eastern Washington county, but fairly low compared to the urban counties along the Puget Sound.
King County, which opened at 12:01 a.m. and planned to keep open until 8 p.m.,had issued 456 licenses as of 4:30 p.m., but it wasn't breaking them out by same-sex or opposite sex applications.
Thurston County, which also opened at 12:01 a.m. to issue licenses to 10 couples chosen by lot, had issued 34 to same-sex couples throughout the day. Pierce County issued 42, Island 25, Kitsap 23, Whatcom 22 and Snohomish 20.
Except for Spokane, no East Side County broke out of single digits and some -- Adams, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield and Stevens -- didn't have any requests.
