Editing Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (section)

====Same-sex marriage====
On July 24, 2013, Montgomery County Register of Wills [[D. Bruce Hanes]], a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]], announced he would begin issuing [[marriage license]]s to [[Same-sex marriage in the United States|same-sex couples]], flouting Pennsylvania law banning such unions. Hanes called the commonwealth's ban "arbitrary and suspect", saying he believes it violates the [[Pennsylvania Constitution]] and the [[United States Constitution]]. The [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] administration of Governor [[Tom Corbett]] filed suit in the [[Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania]] in an attempt to block Hanes from licensing same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/pennsylvania-gay-marriage_n_3781645.html|agency=The Huffington Post|date=August 19, 2013|access-date=August 26, 2013|title=Pennsylvania Gay Marriage Law Deemed 'Suspect' By County Official}}</ref> Commonwealth Court Judge [[Dan Pellegrini]] ordered Hanes in September 2013 to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses. After Federal Judge [[John E. Jones III|John Jones]] threw out Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage in May 2014, calling it unconstitutional, offices in other counties were able to issue these licenses, while Hanes had to wait for the ruling against him to be removed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesherald.com/article/JR/20140521/NEWS/140529964 |title=Montgomery County still unable to issue same-sex marriage licenses |newspaper=The Times Herald |date=May 21, 2014 |access-date=January 24, 2018 }}</ref>