It's a day of wedding bells for some gay couples in Washington as same-sex pairs began picking up marriage licenses on their first eligible day after the law changed last week.
Fifteen licenses were picked up in the first hour the marriage bureau was opened and two couples already got married and returned to pick up their certificates, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz said.
Some couples planned ceremonies the same day at a gay rights group's office while others said they'll wait and have more elaborate celebrations.
About 150 couples were eligible to collect their marriage licenses Tuesday after applying on the first day the licenses were made available last Wednesday. The District has a mandatory three-business-day waiting period.
The District of Columbia is the sixth place in the country permitting same-sex unions. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue same-sex couples licenses. Once couples pick up their license, they have to have the person who performs their marriage sign it and then return it to the marriage bureau to be recorded.
Three morning weddings were planned at the office of the Human Rights Campaign, which does advocacy work on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. In the afternoon, a couple had a ceremony planned at All Souls Church -- the same place where DC Mayor Adrian Fenty in December signed the bill legalizing the unions.
Another couple, district residents Eva Townsend and Shana McDavis-Conway, said they were planning a wedding by their plot in a community garden, where they have grown carrots and potatoes.
Other couples said they already had ceremonies and would simply wed at the courthouse, which has space for about 15 people in a ceremony room. Most of those celebrations will take place during the weeks of March 22 and March 29, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz.
Normally, the courthouse has four to six weddings a day, but over the next several weeks they are expecting 10 to 12 per day. Some courtrooms and judge's chambers may be used for the ceremonies, with the couple's OK. The court's official marriage booklet has been updated so that the ceremony will end by pronouncing the couple "legally married" as opposed to "husband and wife."
More than 300 people applied for marriage licenses from Wednesday to Friday, almost all same-sex couples, Gurowitz said.
Jubilant newlyweds lined up at courthouses today as D.C.'s new marriage law went into effect, but not everyone is breaking out the kazoos. Catholic Charities of Washington, D.C., the largest private social service in the area, has figured out a clever way to make sure the gays don't get their hands on the precious health insurance God never intended them to have. On Monday, the organization informed its employees that henceforth, new hires and yet unwed employees would not be entitled to spousal health benefits. In the memo, Catholic Charities president and CEO Edward Orzechowski explained that, "As of March 2 ... the new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1, will not be eligible for coverage in the future ... We sincerely regret that we have to make this change, but it is necessary to allow Catholic Charities to continue to provide essential services to the clients we serve in partnership with the District of Columbia while remaining consistent with the tenets of our religious faith."
That's right; so determined is Catholic Charities not to give a dime to gay spouses, they're willing to cut off straight ones while they're at it. This, by the way, is the same organization that last month dumped its foster care service rather than risk having its kids go into homes with same-sex couples.
Speaking on the amended health benefits plan, D.C. Archbishop Sonald W. Wuerl told the Washington Post this week that "The Catholic Church teaches to pay a just wage. The compensation package you use to pay that just wage isn't defined by the church." What the Church deemed just, however, was until last week a package that provided for husbands and wives.
Catholic Charities of Massachusetts, where same-sex unions are permitted, continues to cover spouses.
Same-sex couples can start applying for marriage licenses Wednesday in Washington.
Supporters say couples planned to line up before the city's marriage bureau opened at 8:30 a.m., and officials at the courthouse were expecting 200 or more people.
At least 16 couples were waiting at 7:15 a.m. inside the city's Moultrie courthouse, which houses the marriage bureau and is just blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, and her partner of 12 years, Angelisa Young, 47, claimed the first spot in line just after 6 a.m.
"It's like waking up Christmas morning," Young said.
Washington will be the sixth place in the nation where gay marriages can take place. Because of a mandatory waiting period, however, couples won't actually be able to marry in the District of Columbia until March 9. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont currently issue licenses to same-sex couples.
To deal with the expected crowd Wednesday, the marriage bureau will bring in temporary employees to help its regular staff, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz said.
"Everybody who wants a marriage license is going to get one. It may take a little longer, but they will get their license," Gurowitz said.
To prepare, the marriage bureau has changed its license applications so they are gender-neutral, asking for the name of each "spouse" rather than the "bride" and "groom." And at civil marriage ceremonies to be performed in the courthouse, a booklet for the official performing the marriage now reads, "I now pronounce you legally married" instead of "I now pronounce you man and wife."
A marriage license application costs $35, and the marriage license $10. Couples who are already registered as domestic partners in the city can convert their registration into a marriage license by paying the $10 fee.
Supporters expected the day to be festive. A District of Columbia councilman who introduced the gay marriage bill planned to hand out boxes of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes to the first 200 couples in line.
Terrance Heath, 41, planned to be at the courthouse with his partner, Rick Imirowicz, 43. The two have been together for 10 years and have a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old, but Heath said Wednesday feels like "a step forward."
"My husband has always been my husband to me, but having that legal recognition, that legal protection, makes it easier to deal with any number of situations," said Heath, a writer and blogger. "If you tell people you're married, you don't really have to explain much beyond that."
The two, who live in Maryland, plan to marry on March 9, the first day possible.
The gay marriage law was introduced in the 13-member D.C. Council in October and had near-unanimous support from the beginning. The bill passed and D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed it in December, but because Washington is a federal district, the law had to undergo a congressional review period that expired Tuesday.
Opponents, however, are still attempting to overturn the bill in court.
------
On the Net:
Superior Court of the District of Columbia marriage bureau:
http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/superior/family/marriage.jsp
Those California beauty queens really don't seem to have a whole lot of love for the gays, do they? Last year, it was Carrie Prejean, who notoriously spoke out in favor of "opposite marriage."
Now there's another young swimsuit-competing Christian taking a crack at the issue. Meet Lauren Ashley, currently repping for Beverly Hills in the Miss California USA pageant. Earlier this week the 23-year-old told Fox, "The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, 'If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.'"
Turns out, some took offense with the beauty queen trotting out Leviticus' death sentence on gays. The city of Beverly Hills, for instance. Under current pageant rules, contestants get to choose which city they wish to represent. Apparently Pasadena, where Ashley resides, didn't cut it for her. So on Wednesday, Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne told the Los Angeles Times, "We are dismayed by any potential association [Ashley has] with the city of Beverly Hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect." And the city itself issued a statement that it "does not sponsor a beauty pageant and has no association with Miss California USA. As such, there should be no individual claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills." To which we can only add: hahahahha.
But of course Ashley's not entirely without her fans. Unshockingly, the National Organization for Marriage has stepped up to give her props. Its president, Maggie Gallagher, told Fox yesterday, "I'm not surprised that Miss Beverly Hills, Lauren Ashley, opposes gay marriage -- after all, 45 percent of young Californians voted for Prop. 8, as did 7 million Californians generally."
And Fox News seized the opportunity to champion the young woman, conveniently editing its original, more critical interview to now say she's been "publicly condemned" with a "shunning" for "speaking out in support of traditional nuptials." Gone from the edited piece are her assesrtions that Carrie Prejean "is definitely a beautiful person and I love that she stood up for what she believes in. I think that's gorgeous."
Instead the story now says, "The media storm that ensued interpreted her words with headlines such as 'Miss Beverly Hills Wants Gays Put to Death' and 'God Wants Gays Dead, Says Beauty Queen.'" Interestingly, excised from the story are her remarks that "The Bible is pretty black and white ... I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that’s a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life."
Yeah, I don't know where anybody would get the idea she was condoning death to homosexuals.
On "Countdown" last night, writer Dan Savage spelled it out for anybody still unclear on the concept. "The Bible justifies genocide; the Bible justifies slavery; the Bible calls on parents to murder disobedient children ... and if that's not going to be enforced, maybe you could drop the anti-gay murderous crap from the Bible too."
Ashley herself has had no further comments on her statements. But speaking to the L.A. Times today, the pageant's California stage director Keith Lewis, who is gay, said, "I don't agree with her, but I will fight to the death for her right to have her opinion." Well, that's good, because from the sound of it, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Welcome to another episode of the popular sitcom "Raising McCain!" He's a crusty old former senator stuck between two feisty blondes – his wife and his daughter. What will happen next?
When last we checked in, daughter Meghan, the relentlessly self-promoting, great young hope of hottie conservatism, had very publicly split from her dad's 2008 defense of "the status of marriage between man and woman" and posed for California's NOH8 campaign -- taking a stand against California's ban on same-sex marriage.
Now, mom Cindy has gotten in on the act with her own arresting photo for the series, "redefining Republican" with "NOH8" emblazoned on her face and her mouth duct taped shut. Although the image is part of the campaign's "silent protest," it's particularly loaded for Mrs. McCain, who certainly didn't make her feelings on marriage equality known when her husband endorsed Prop 8 during his bid for the White House. But a mind opened later is better than one never opened at all, and it's proof of the influence of something even more powerful than glossy campaigns. Because while the NOH8 site states that "Marriage equality isn't a Republican issue any more than it is a Democratic issue," it is, as the McCains show, often a family one.
Tune in next time, when the patriarch throws up his hands, does his own promo, and the whole McCain gang winds up laughing together around a table at Applebee's.
I was wearing my orange jumpsuit with black tennis shoes on my wedding day. And I was not able to kiss my wife.
We got married in San Francisco County Jail on Aug. 19, 2008. I remember it like it was yesterday. The jail staff told me this was the first time a same-sex marriage happened there. I was so scared and nervous.
I signed the marriage license papers in front of the notary lady from the bail bonds place across the street. My wife-to-be, Shayonna, wasn't allowed upstairs, so we signed it separately. After that, a guard took me into this little room where Shayonna was waiting. She looked so pretty. Her hair was in this little cute bun with a ponytail. She had braids and little spikes coming out of the bun. She was wearing a silver skirt with a champagne-colored shirt and orange shoes. The only thing I could do special was my hair -- I put a little ponytail at the top of my single braids.
We said our vows, and I cried like a big baby, because I couldn’t believe I was really getting married to this beautiful woman. We both said "I do," and then we took a picture. We were about to touch each other -- but the guard said we couldn't.
It was very hard for me to say "I do" and not kiss the love of my life. She had to walk out first and then they let me walk out. I was singing "Ready for Love" by India Arie.
I proposed to Shayonna soon after I landed in jail. I told her, "Now is a good time for us to get married, because we might not be able to get married when I get out of jail because same-sex marriage might not be allowed in California anymore."
She said yes.
The first pastor we found said he couldn't marry us when he found out I was a woman. But we eventually found one.
After we were married, everybody, both the guards and the inmates, were like, "Oh congratulations!"
"I'm so happy!" I replied to everybody. And I cried out, "I’m married!"
Then I went to my bunk and cried myself to sleep because I was so sad I wasn’t able to touch her or kiss her. I had friends who got married to someone of the opposite sex in the same county jail, and they had been allowed to kiss. We assumed that the same thing would go for us.
The next day all of my friends in county jail gave me a little wedding reception during free time. They made me a cake out of honey buns with Snickers melted on it. We had burritos with noodles and chicken, beef jerky sticks, cheese puffs and club crackers. We bought most of the food from the canteen, but saved the chicken pieces from our trays the night before. Then they made me a card that everybody in the whole D-pod signed.
I first met Shayonna in front of my house in April 2008. I saw a pretty dark-skinned purple- and black-haired girl sitting in a car right by the house with another girl I knew from the neighborhood who worked as a prostitute. I thought this girl did the same thing, but I still wanted to meet her. Later, I found out that she worked as a certified nurse assistant. She wasn’t involved in the street life.
At this time I was making fast money selling large quantities of dope (crack). I was also doing powder (cocaine). My grandmother had suspected I was gay and kicked me out, so I was paying my rent and making my money through dope. I couldn’t get a regular job because I was a felon, so I just gave up. (I got the felony in 2004 for selling crack.)
Soon after I met Shayonna, I realized that I was in love, and I stopped smoking weed and doing powder.
She took me to my first gay club. She thought I couldn’t dance, but I went crazy on the dance floor. I think that made her like me more. I knew a lot of people at the club, and I introduced Shayonna to them as my wife. She felt like wife material to me. She was already more to me than what my other girlfriends had been.
I was still selling dope every day, although I was slowing down a bit because she started feeding me and telling me to stay home. The police finally got on me in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. I called Shayonna and told her I was going to jail. I told her, "If you don’t want to be with me, I understand because I'm about to either go to prison or I'm going to get a county year."
She told me that she was very much in love with me and she was not going to give up on us so fast. When my court date came up, the only person who came to court was Shayonna.
When they told me that they were going to give me a year for possession of crack cocaine, intent to sell and transportation, I almost died. Shayonna said, "Don’t worry, I’m going to be here for you every step of the way." I called her every day when I was in jail, and she made sure she had money on my books and a phone that I could call collect.
I have been married now for a year and four months, and my life has changed a lot. Since getting out of jail I have not gone back to the street, and because I love my life today I haven’t touched powder.
My family thinks that Shayonna just controls me or something. But I think they just can’t accept the fact that I married a woman. I will always love my family; they are my family. But my wife has shown me the right way to live, and I love it. We have our ups and downs, but I know we are going to be together for a long time because we still talk every night as if we’d just met. I know I am part of the small exclusive group of people in California who have been able to marry someone of the same sex. Sometimes when my wife and I fight, I tell myself I need to stay and work it out, because I can’t get married to another woman. It makes me feel even more committed.
And when she kisses me, my heart still drops.
A version of this story was originally published by YO! YouthOutlook and New America Media.
Why churches fear gay marriage
The crusade for Proposition 8 was fueled by the broken American family, explains gay Catholic author Richard Rodriguez.
By Jeanne Carstensen
Gay marriage, so what?
Maybe I should be more grateful, but the California Supreme Court hasn't told me anything I don't already know.
By Louis Bayard
My big fat straight wedding
What’s the difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals? In matters outside the bedroom, American culture and law are at last acknowledging that there is none.
By Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic
National Center for Lesbian Rights: Marriage
A database on the subject of gay marriage in California, including links to official court documents, press releases, and relevant statutes.
Mexico City, Buenos Aires, start a new gay marriage chapter
I’m heterosexual – Wow, do I have a lot of rights
