Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday extended federal recognition to the marriages of about 300 same-sex couples that took place in Michigan before a federal appeals court put those unions on hold, according to CNN.
Holder's action will enable the government to extend eligibility for federal benefits to the Michigan couples who married Saturday, which means they can file federal taxes jointly, recieve Social Security benefits for spouses and request legal immigration status for partners, among other benefits, CNN reported.
The attorney general said the families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their benefits while courts decide the issue of same-sex marriage in Michigan, according to CNN. Holder did the same thing in Utah, where more than 1,000 same-sex couples got married before the U.S. Supreme Court put those unions on hold in January after a federal judge overturned the conservative state's same-sex marriage ban in December.
Holder's decision came a week after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit struck down the gay marriage ban and two days after Michigan Governor Rick Snyder called last weekend's marriages legal but said Michigan won't recognize them, CNN reported.
Oakland County was one of four that took the extraordinary step of granting licenses Saturday just hours before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ordered a temporary halt, according to CNN.
Friedman's ruling came in a federal lawsuit filed in 2012 by April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, two Detroit-area nurses who are raising three children with special needs, CNN reported.
DeBoer and Rowse have said they sued because they were barred from jointly adopting each other's children, according to CNN. Joint adoption is reserved for married heterosexual couples in Michigan.
"I think it's spectacular that our federal government has chosen to acknowledge the validity of these marriages, and accord the respect and dignity these couples and their families deserve," said attorney Dana Nessel, who represented DeBoer and Rowse, CNN reported.
Snyder, a Republican, acknowledged Wednesday that same-sex couples "had a legal marriage," but because of the court's stay, he added, the gay marriage ban has been restored, according to CNN.
Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., issue licenses for same-sex marriages, CNN reported. Since December, bans on gay marriage also have been overturned by courts in Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Virginia, but appeals have put those cases on hold.
