To celebrate marriage equality, Travis County offers free marriage ceremonies June 26

To celebrate the eight-year anniversary of becoming the first Texas county to issue a same-sex marriage license, Travis County is offering free wedding ceremonies all day Monday, June 26.

Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado said she thinks it’s particularly important for the county to show solidarity with the LGBTQ community this year.

“Especially as the LGBTQ community is facing extreme attacks from the state Legislature in the last session,” Limon-Mercado said. “Particularly attacking trans youth and drag performances and other ways that they’ve been attacking the community here in the state.”

In February 2015, Austin residents Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant became the first same-sex couple legally married in Texas. In June later that year, the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage was constitutional, and the county married more than 50 same-sex couples.

This year is the first year the county will be celebrating by offering free marriages. The ceremony usually costs $80.

As of Thursday, 10 spots remained open for a free ceremony on June 26.

To schedule a ceremony, you need to get a marriage license. Since there’s a 72-hour waiting period between getting a license and the ceremony, the last day you should apply for a license if you want to be married June 26 is next Thursday.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that the free ceremonies were available only for LGBTQ couples.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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