Cook County Issues 1,000th Same-Sex Marriage License

(STMW) -- Cook County has now issued 1,000 marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Clerk David Orr's office announced.

Albany Park couple Tom Crisham, 36, and Andrew Rodbro, 38, received the 1000th license Friday afternoon, Orr's office said in a statement. Crisham is a banker while Rodbro works as a teacher, and they have been together for 15 years.

"When we were able to get a domestic partnership, we got that," Crisham said. "When we were able to get a civil union, we got it. And now we're able to get married."

"We're excited," Rodbro said.

Sixteen Illinois counties have begun to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following a federal judge's ruling in February. Gay marriage will become legal statewide June 1.

"These couples have come from every walk of life," Orr said in the release. "City and suburban, urban and rural, doctors and dentists, attorneys and accountants, teachers, police officers, members of the military, students and retired folks.

"They've ranged in age from 18 to 87. We have seen same-sex couples from nearly half the states in the country come to Cook County to get married," Orr said.

Couples have come from as far away as Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky to obtain marriage licenses in Cook County, according to Orr's office.