Prostitution is moral and legal in Nevada, but same-sex marriage remains an illegal sin. Britney Spears’ one-day marriage is fully recognized, but couples who’ve been together for 50 years are not.
That all may change later this month if Nevada begins recognizing the right of gay and lesbian couples to be married by Elvis impersonators, just like their tacky heterosexual counterparts.
Same-sex marriage may come to Nevada the way it did in Oregon and Pennsylvania, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. Officials in those states refused to defend the state’s marriage ban and allowed lower court rulings to stand.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already weighed in on the side of marriage equality, is set to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling on Sept. 8. Nevada’s governor was once a party to the appeal, but has since dropped his opposition to same-sex marriage when he realized gays could hold even bigger, gaudier and more garish weddings in his state than any straight bridezilla ever imagined.
Banning marriage has been bad for tourism, especially in Las Vegas, which has about 100 wedding chapels. In 2013, Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, issued more than 80,000 opposite-sex marriage licenses.
The state said it would need 21 days to prepare for same-sex marriage, mostly to change their licenses to read “Party 1” and “Party 2” instead of “Bride” and “Groom.”
State officials are also looking forward to money that could be earned from quickie divorces and the tourism that will generate, especially as couples who can’t divorce in their home states — like Texas — come to visit. Quickie Nevada divorces were popularized in the 1939 Joan Crawford gay classic The Women.
What happens in Las Vegas will be recognized by the federal government, but not by the state of Texas.