it is married, the Quaker wedding certificate signed by witnesses at the ceremony may be sufficient in some US states. A few states have statutes that specifically recognize Quaker marriages in which ministers are not officiants, as legal. However, most Yearly Meetings and Monthly Meetings encourage Friends marrying under their care to obtain marriage licenses and have them signed by a representative of the Meeting and to file duly the licenses with the state. This is a special concern since common-law marriages, under which Quaker marriages were formerly valid in many states, are legally recognized only in a few US states. There is some discomfort with the obtaining and filing of marriage licenses for heterosexual couples in Meetings in which the joining of homosexual or lesbian couples is recognized because of the Quaker concern for equality. Various means of dealing with issue have been worked out in Monthly Meetings and Yearly Meetings. Same-sex couples can also be married with or without government documents in some meetings (see homosexuality and Quakerism). Procedure A traditional wedding ceremony in a Friends meeting is similar to any other meeting for worship and therefore is often very different from the experience expected by non-Friends. The attendees gather for silent worship, often with the couple sitting in front of the meeting (that may depend on the layout of the particular Friends meeting house). Out of the silence, the couple will exchange what the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting describes as "promises" and Britain Yearly Meeting describes as "declarations" with each other. The promises are short, simple, and egalitarian and can vary between different regions and meetings. Traditionally, Quakers do not swear or make oaths because they intend to tell the truth at all times, and thus have no need of swearing. Since Friends traditionally have no clergy, there is no one person to "marry" them. Instead, they believe that they are married by God and declare their intentions before God and those gathered. They believe that the marriage is merely "witnessed" by those present. George Fox wrote in 1669: "For the right joining in marriage is the work of the Lord only, and not the priests' or the magistrates'; for it is God's ordinance and not man's; and therefore Friends cannot consent that they should join them together: for we marry none; it is the Lord's work, and we are but witnesses." The administrative tasks associated with the