Same-Sex Couples Begin To Marry In Vermont
After becoming the 4th State in the United States of America to legalize same-sex marriage back in April, same-sex couples began to legally marry in the great State of Vermont yesterday on the first full day that the law legalizing the practice went into effect. Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan, a couple from New York, were the first same-sex couple to marry in Vermont at the stroke of midnight on September 1, 2009 … here are a couple photos from their joyous wedding ceremony and some deets about the first day of same-sex marriage in Vermont:
After 17 years together, Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan couldn’t wait another minute to get married. So they didn’t. With Vermont’s new law allowing same-sex marriage only a minute old, they tied the knot in a midnight ceremony at a rustic lodge, becoming one of the first couples to legally wed under a law that took effect at midnight Monday. The start of gay weddings, which came nine years after Vermont’s first-in-the-nation civil unions law, prompted demonstrations Tuesday in Montpelier and Burlington. Five members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan., carried signs and sang songs but were outnumbered by counterdemonstrators preaching love and tolerance. The state’s gay marriage era dawned even before dawn Tuesday, with a pair of midnight weddings. At the Moose Meadow Lodge in Duxbury, Slimback and Sullivan tied the knot at 12:01 a.m. The two Whitehall, N.Y., men said their vows under a large wall-mounted moose head, promised their love, exchanged rings and held hands during a modest 17-minute ceremony. Moose Meadow Lodge co-owner Greg Trulson, who’s also a Justice of the Peace, presided. “It feels wonderful,” said Slimback, 38, an out-of-work Teamster who is taking Sullivan’s last name as his own. “It’s a day I’ve been long waiting for, and a day I truly honestly thought would never come.” Slimback said he and Sullivan, 41, have long wanted to cement their relationship with a wedding, but since they couldn’t legally marry in New York they chose Vermont. Vermont is one of four states that now allow same-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. New Hampshire’s law takes effect Jan. 1, 2010. Vermont, which invented civil unions in 2000 after a same-sex couple challenged the inequality of state marriage statutes, was a mecca for gay couples who to that point had no way to officially recognize their relationships. Since then, other states have allowed gay marriage, as did Vermont, which in April became the first state to legalize gay marriage through a legislative decree and not a court case. In another midnight ceremony, Claire Williams, 34, and Cori Giroux, 27, were married in their South Burlington home, with about 20 people attending. They were wed by attorney Beth Robinson, a founder of Vermont Freedom to Marry.
First and foremost, much love and congrats to the happy couples who were married yesterday … and much love and congrats goes out to all those making their way to Vermont to make their marriage dreams come true. Marriage equality in Vermont seems extra special to me because Vermont is the first State in our country to legalize same-sex marriage by legislation … active and public work took place among the State’s lawmakers and a conscious effort to afford marriage equality to all it’s State’s citizens won out. It is a glorious day for marriage equality in our country. The US still has a very long way to go but by following the lead of Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa our country will truly be the Land of the Free one day. Again … love and congrats! Well done, Vermont!!!
Tags: Same-Sex Marriage
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September 2nd, 2009 at 7:11 am
when are u and your significant other gettign hitched?
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 am
@lala — When the time is right ;)
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:25 am
This is the best news I’ve seen all day. Now if we could just get Chris Brown to marry someone strong enough to hit him back, all would be right in the world
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 am
Trent, I don’t know if you saw this but I thought it was super cute. http://www.benjerry.com/hubbyhubby/
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 am
@Jess — Newslinks yesterday :)
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 am
I’m gay and I have no interest in marriage but good for them.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:10 am
God those protesters make me embarrassed to be a Kansan. You know, lots of us, especially the younger adults, completely support gay marriage and collectively cringe whenever some hateful hick who hails from here tries to make a “statement” by spewing homophobic bile or shooting down an abortion doctor. The majority of teenagers/young adults from the more urban eastern areas of Kansas City/Lawrence/Johnson County are liberal (not that I think you have to be a Democrat to support gay rights). Western Kansas is pretty yucky, though. I wouldn’t hang out there if you paid me.
Also, at the church I attend, which has the largest United Methodist congregation in the country and was voted in a survey of American pastors as the most influential mainline church in the U.S., our senior pastor, though he’s conservative on the abortion issue, has been open about the fact that he finds it hard to believe there’s anything immoral in homosexuality. Some people left the church in a huff after he made that clear, but most of the 16,000-member congregation stayed. Baby steps, I know, but it’s good to feel that attitudes are changing even in Kansas, a state where science guidelines that endorse evolution in the schools are STILL controversial, albeit slowly.
Anyways, congrats to all the newlyweds in Vermont!
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:11 am
God those protesters make me embarrassed to be a Kansan. You know, lots of us, especially the younger adults, completely support gay marriage and collectively cringe whenever some hateful hick who hails from here tries to make a “statement” by spewing homophobic bile or shooting down an abortion doctor. The majority of teenagers/young adults from the more urban eastern areas of Kansas City/Lawrence/Johnson County are liberal (not that I think you have to be a Democrat to support gay rights). Western Kansas is pretty yucky, though. I wouldn’t hang out there if you paid me.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:48 am
Ugh. Sorry for posting twice.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 am
cheers to the newlyweds! i love that they had a midnight wedding!
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 am
I grew up in Vermont. I might live far away from there now, but I’m so proud of my state!
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 am
I hope it won’t take too long for the rest of the country to approve gay marriage.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 am
This is such a great thing. There is no reason that same sex couples should be denied the thousands of rights that the law provides to married couples that give them the ability to protect their assets and their families.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
VERMONT REPRESENT! We’re doing our first wedding at my inn this weekend (: I’m excited. The gay weddings we do always seem to go better than the straight ones. Not sure why but it seems the gay weddings always have the super nice guests. They’re so relaxed and kind. Straight people can be real bitchy it seems.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
@Chivonne: …What? Gay weddings have a lot of straight guests too. Unless you’re saying that every super nice guest you’ve chatted with at the wedding has been gay, which is highly unlikely. Usually gay people don’t hang out JUST with other gay people….they’re not clannish. If there’s any suitable stereotype, it’s that their circles are usually really diverse. At least, that’s been my experience.
Or are you saying that the straights that gays befriend are usually nicer than your garden-variety wedding guests?
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I’m so proud to be a Vermonter!
September 7th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I live in VT and couldn’t be happier! If anyone needs a wedding coordinator-contact me!
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