SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A Christian legal group on Monday sent a memorandum to marriage officials in the three states where gay marriage was legalized in last week's elections, advising them they "do not have to violate their faith or conscience by personally issuing licenses to applicants who are of the same sex."

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) a American conservative Christian nonprofit organization, sent the advisory to municipal clerks and other officials responsible for issuing marriage licenses in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

SEATTLE – Same-sex couples who want to be among the first to get married in Washington state can start the process at 12:01 am Thursday, Dec. 6, in Seattle.

A waiting line to obtain marriage licenses will open at 10 pm Wednesday, Dec. 5, outside the James Street entrance on the north place of the King County Administration Building, 500 Fourth Ave. in Seattle.

WASHINGTON – The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy funneled $2 million into entirely unsuccessful efforts to advance discrimination against LGBT people in the four marriage ballot states of Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington this election cycle.

WASHINGTON -- The United States Supreme Court indicated today that it has rescheduled the date when it will consider whether to grant review in
Hollingsworth v. Perry (formerly Perry v. Brown), the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8.

The Perry case, along with several cases challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), have been distributed for consideration at the Justices' private Conference scheduled for Friday, Nov. 30. The Proposition 8 and DOMA cases had previously been distributed for the Conference of Tuesday, Nov. 20.