An official in western North Carolina has accepted a marriage license request from a same sex couple.

Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger on Tuesday morning accepted the request from Brenda Clark and Carol McCrory. They say they’ve been together for 25 years.

McCrory praised Reisinger for his courage in accepting their marriage license request. He says he’ll accept the license request and send it to the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Reisinger says he thinks the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Cooper said Monday he supports gay marriage. But he has said he’ll defend the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage.

A spokeswoman for Cooper’s office said the marriage licenses cannot be issued.

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