Associated Press Photo of Olin and Carl Burkhart on their wedding night in Concord, NH.
My congratulations to all those LGBT couples in New Hampshire who will now be able to get married to the one they love!
Under the law now in effect in New Hampshire, the 800 or so couples who had gone through a civil union ceremony over the past two years will have their unions converted to marriages automatically in 2011. But they can expedite the process by applying for a marriage license now. Others took part in a ceremony in front of the state Capitol building in Concord at 12:01AM. And still others are making their plans to wed before somebody decides they need to launch a campaign to repeal this law.
For the most part, in reading about the new marriage laws for the state, many LGBT couples are sighing relief that they can FINALLY do this, but they recognize that there are still miles to go before anybody can sleep. Take this snippet from the Los Angeles Times article:
The retired Rev. Eleanor McLaughlin and her partner of 19 years, Elizabeth Hess, of Randolph, climbed a mountain and exchanged rings the summer of 1991 but didn't enter a civil union. They waited for marriage. Both devout Episcopalians, they designed their ceremony Saturday to reflect the state's role in civil marriage and their church's role in blessing the union.
McLaughlin, 74, and Hess, 62, plan on exchanging marriage vows in the vestibule of St. Barnabas Church in Berlin, then following with a church ceremony at which Episcopal Bishop Gene V. Robinson, who is openly gay, will bless the union.
Winter's starkness is their wedding theme.
"We want people to recognize we had to wait a long, long time," Hess said.
Under the law now in effect in New Hampshire, the 800 or so couples who had gone through a civil union ceremony over the past two years will have their unions converted to marriages automatically in 2011. But they can expedite the process by applying for a marriage license now. Others took part in a ceremony in front of the state Capitol building in Concord at 12:01AM. And still others are making their plans to wed before somebody decides they need to launch a campaign to repeal this law.
For the most part, in reading about the new marriage laws for the state, many LGBT couples are sighing relief that they can FINALLY do this, but they recognize that there are still miles to go before anybody can sleep. Take this snippet from the Los Angeles Times article:
The retired Rev. Eleanor McLaughlin and her partner of 19 years, Elizabeth Hess, of Randolph, climbed a mountain and exchanged rings the summer of 1991 but didn't enter a civil union. They waited for marriage. Both devout Episcopalians, they designed their ceremony Saturday to reflect the state's role in civil marriage and their church's role in blessing the union.
McLaughlin, 74, and Hess, 62, plan on exchanging marriage vows in the vestibule of St. Barnabas Church in Berlin, then following with a church ceremony at which Episcopal Bishop Gene V. Robinson, who is openly gay, will bless the union.
Winter's starkness is their wedding theme.
"We want people to recognize we had to wait a long, long time," Hess said.
Knowing that my home state, once a hold-out against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, has done this for my community is heartwarming and gives me hope that things can change. Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder!
4 comments:
Amazing as always
May the 'major' news event of NH today, become so common place in all 50 states and around the world that it only makes the local newspapers when the couple sends the info to the society editor.
As always, what can I say, except we really mean it up here, "Live free or Die" And as you can see they don't even mind if it is snowy or cold.
Peggins
Peggins: At least in snowy, cold places, our relationships aren't seen as a threat.
Phoebe: I'm with you!
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