Buncombe issues more than 300 same-sex marriage licenses since gay marriage ban struck down

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

[portfolio_slideshow]

More than a month after North Carolina’s gay marriage ban was struck down, Buncombe County has issued more than 300 marriage licenses to same-sex couples, says Drew Reisinger, the county’s Register of Deeds. The county has issued more than twice the number of marriage licenses it usually issues in a month, Reisinger said. Buncombe County is also on track to smash the record of the most marriages it has ever registered in a single year. The previous record, set in 2012, was 2,206. So far, the county has issues 2,439 marriage licenses, Reisinger reports, with the entire month of December to come.

Here’s Reisinger’s full email response to my questions about same-sex marriage licenses issued in Buncombe County this year:

Same-sex marriage: Since we don’t have two separate kinds of marriage in North Carolina (i.e. we don’t have marriage vs same-sex marriage), we don’t have an official number. What I can tell you is that in the month of October we married 505 couples, compared to our normal monthly average of around 200. Our office has not slowed down since the UCC vs. Reisinger ruling was issued. Though we don’t record them separately, we did have someone go through the applications and make an educated guess. Since Oct. 10, it would be safe to say that we have given out around 320 licenses to same-sex couples.

To answer your question about the financial impact, a marriage license in the state of North Carolina costs $60 and the certificate costs $10. In the past month and a half alone, my office has brought in an additional $22,540 from these 320 licenses. Our Vital Records department was already on track to break the Buncombe County record of the most marriage licenses issued in a year throughout our county’s history. Previously 2012 set the record of the most marriages in a single year with 2,206. This year we have already issued 2,439 marriage licenses and we still have the month of December ahead of us.

Ashevegas on Instagram image link.