SAN ANTONIO – The nation is keeping its eyes on the U.S. Supreme Court as it gets ready to vote on same-sex marriage. The vote is expected to come either Friday morning or Monday, when the session ends.
"We just celebrated our 19th anniversary this last Monday," said Maria Salazar.
Salazar and her partner, Jo Ann Castillo, could have gotten married in other states, but they chose not to.
"We're waiting for Texas. This is our home. This is where our families are, and it's got to be Texas or it doesn't mean anything," Salazar said.
If the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage across the nation Friday or Monday, Salazar and Castillo will head straight to the Bexar County Clerk's Office to get their license.
"I literally have my shirt in the car," Salazar said.
Bexar County Clerk Gerard Rickhoff is prepared for many other couples to do the same.
"We issue about 1,000 licenses a month, 60 to 70 a day. So I don't see it overcoming our resources," Rickhoff said. "It will just be another day in the sun in San Antonio. I don't see any catastrophic events happening."
He has held multiple staff meetings and plans to have security officers at his office if the decision passes.
"We're not going to tolerate any hate speech or disruptive behavior. It's not going to happen," Rickhoff said.
He also has new documents ready to go. In the Bexar County Clerk's Office, there are now two separate marriage license documents. The old one lists locations for the male and female to sign their names. However, the new one removes the genders from the form. If the Supreme Court allows same-sex marriages, the new documents will go into use immediately. Rickhoff has also sent a request to the Austin office for state forms without gender specifications, as well.
The new system has been prepared. The question now is, will it need to be put to use?
If same-sex marriage does become legal, Rickhoff said the Texas attorney general would decide how the state would recognize same-sex marriages that took place in other states.