Bannock County Clerk Robert Poleki is expecting to see a lot of people in his office after a federal appeals court declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage in 30 other states, including Utah.

    “I expect a long line at the office,” Poleki said, adding that he’s already receiving calls from people who want to know when they can get married and what they need to do before they can say their vows, he said. “Our staff is ready and prepared to issue licenses (as soon as the) federal courts give us the OK to proceed.”

    Poleki said Bannock County already has forms appropriate for same-sex marriages. They’ve changed the words from bride and groom to applicant one and applicant two.

    Bingham County Clerk Sara Staub said her office is planning to participate in an Idaho Association of Counties webinar later this week to learn what changes need to be made.

    Although the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the two states' bans on gay marriage, ruling they violated equal protection rights, it’s still unclear exactly when same-sex marriages will happen in Idaho and Nevada.

    Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's spokesman Todd Dvorak said his office believes a previous 9th Circuit stay on marriages pending a U.S. Supreme Court appeal remains in place.

    "We are reviewing the decision by the court and assessing all of Idaho's legal options," Wasden said in a statement.

    Still, some people are already celebrating the recent ruling.

    "This is a super sweet victory," said Sue Latta, who along with Traci Ehlers sued Idaho last year to compel the state to recognize their 2008 marriage in California. Three other couples also joined the lawsuit to invalidate Idaho's same-sex marriage ban.

    "Taxes are easier, real estate is easier, parenting is easier, end of life planning is easier," Latta said.

    Jon Peirsol, co-owner of Club Charleys in Pocatello, said the gay bar offered drink specials on Tuesday to celebrate the decision, and will likely hold a party this weekend.

    He’s not gay, but Peirsol said he’s gotten to know many people who are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community. He has seen their struggles over the years and has advocated for their rights.

    “I do think this is a good thing for the state,” he said, adding that no one should be treated differently because of his or her skin color or sexual orientation. “Everyone should be treated equal.”

    Rev. Janie Gebhardt with First Congregational United Church of Christ in Pocatello agrees. She believes members of the LGBT community have been discriminated against for too long.

    “(It’s like we) look at the world around us and say, ‘You are not capable of love, but you are,’” she said. “That’s not true.”

    Her church has embraced members of the LGBT community for years, she said.

    “We believe love is love, period,” she said.

    Gebhardt said she would “absolutely” be willing to officiate at same-sex marriages in the future.

    Craig Pesti-Strobel, pastor of Pocatello First United Methodist Church, said he would be willing to marry same-sex couples who are in love and prepared to dedicate their lives to each other, but his denomination doesn’t want him to do so at present.  

    “(There are pastors who are) willing and supportive of same-gender marriages, but this somewhat ties our hands,” he said.

    Pesti-Strobel hopes the denomination's stance will soon change due to the legalization of same-sex marriage in so many states, and that pastors will be given the choice to perform marriages as their consciences dictate — the same ability they have in other marriage ceremonies.

    Still, some churches, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are already saying the legalization of same-sex marriages won’t affect their teachings.

    “The succession of federal court decisions in recent months, culminating in today’s announcement by the Supreme Court, will have no effect on the doctrinal position or practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is that only marriage between a man and a woman is acceptable to God,” according to a news release issued by the church on Monday. “In prizing freedom of conscience and Constitutional guarantees of the free exercise of religion, we will continue to teach that standard and uphold it in our religious practices.”

    Although the church will remain steadfast in its doctrine, officials say they believe that people with differing values can respectfully coexist.

    “Church leaders will continue to encourage our people to be persons of good will toward all, rejecting persecution of any kind based on race, ethnicity, religious belief or non-belief, and differences in sexual orientation,” according to the news release.

    Although religious beliefs about same-sex marriage differ among churches,  judges feel bans violate equal protection rights.

    Judge Stephen Reinhardt, representing a unanimous three-judge panel, wrote that laws that treat people differently based on sexual orientation are unconstitutional unless there is a compelling government interest. He wrote that neither Idaho nor Nevada offered any legitimate reasons to discriminate against gay couples.

    "Idaho and Nevada's marriage laws, by preventing same-sex couples from marrying and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages celebrated elsewhere, impose profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms on numerous citizens of those states," Reinhardt wrote.

    He rejected the argument that same-sex marriages will devalue traditional marriage, leading to more out-of-wedlock births.

    "This proposition reflects a crass and callous view of parental love and the parental bond that is not worthy of response," Reinhardt wrote. "We reject it out of hand."

    Technically, the court upheld a trial judge's ruling striking down Idaho's ban and reversed a lower court ruling upholding Nevada's ban.

    Reinhardt ordered a "prompt issuance" of a lower court order to let same-sex couples wed In Nevada.

    "We are absolutely delighted that wedding bells will finally be ringing for same-sex couples in Nevada," said Tara Borelli, the lawyer who argued the Nevada case for Lambda Legal.

    Monte Neil Stewart, the Idaho-based attorney who argued the case for Nevada on behalf of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, declined to say whether he'll challenge the order for the prompt start to same-sex marriages.

    Reinhardt didn't say when marriages should start in Idaho.

    State and federal court judges have been striking down bans at a rapid rate since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.

    On Monday, the nation's top court unexpectedly rejected appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans. The decision cleared the way for a dramatic expansion of gay marriage in the United States and might have signaled that it's only a matter of time before same-sex couples can marry in all 50 states.

    The appeals court panel did not rule on a similar case in Hawaii, which legalized gay marriage in December. Hawaii's governor had asked the court to toss out a lawsuit challenging the state's ban and an appeal to the 9th Circuit filed before Hawaii lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage.

    All three judges on the panel were appointed by Democratic presidents. President Bill Clinton appointed Judges Marsha Berzon and Ronald Gould. President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Stephen Reinhardt.

    The court also has jurisdiction in three other states that still have marriage bans in place: Alaska, Arizona and Montana. Lawsuits challenging bans in those states are still pending in lower courts and have not reached the 9th Circuit.