The U.S. Supreme Court is due to hand down its decision on same-sex marriage this month. Depending on how the court rules, county clerks across the country could see countless gay couples lining up to apply for their marriage certificates. However, if same-sex couples show up to the offices of Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, it looks like they might have some trouble submitting their applications via the current state-issued application forms.

Stanart hasn't been shy about his personal views on the subject of gay marriage: he's against it. The thing is, Stanart seems to be something of a romantic at heart. He even redesigned the county marriage licenses with a “romantic style flair” in honor of Valentine's Day....

Yep, that's right, should the Supremes rule in favor of gay marriage this month – and the fact that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the resident swing vote on the court, has written virtually every opinion the court has issued on gay rights in the past decade, and has voted in favor of gay rights consistently, implies that the court will find in favor of same-sex marriage – couples who wish to apply in Harris County will still have the flimsy but challenging conundrum of a paperwork problem standing between them and that marriage license.

Why? Well, to apply for a marriage license in Harris County couples have to go down to the any of the ten Harris County Clerk's offices, pay $72 and fill out an application form. The application form is actually created by state officials and is printed from an online site, according to Stanart. The application form has a space for the name, social security number, address and other details for one female applicant and one male applicant — pretty much the only detail will present a problem until the state changes the forms.