December 31, 2013
Driver, Mich., Office Won't Change Name After Gay Marriage
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Don't count on driver's license officials in Michigan accepting name changes for gay marrieds.
The federal government and New York state may consider him Jesse Melot, but the Michigan Department of State insists he's still Jesse Sherman.
The Michigan Constitution bans same-sex marriages, so he and Derek Melot went to New York to get married in October.
Afterward, Jesse Melot says he visited two Michigan Department of State offices with his marriage certificate seeking to have his new name put on his driver's licenses.
He tells MLive.com that clerks in both offices declined to do so.
Department spokesman Fred Woodhams says that Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is simply trying to follow the law.
He says department policy "is to not accept a same-sex marriage license."
