First Day For Same-Sex Marriages In DC

Today (March 9th) is the first day that same-sex couples can be married in Washington DC, after a law change last Wednesday. Washington D.C. now joins New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont as the sixth place in the US to legalize same-sex marriage, and today after over 100 couples applied for their marriage licenses last Wednesday, the first have come to collect the document and tie the knot. They waited in lines for hours last week and now it’s time to say “I do” and “f-you” to all those conservatives.

Even though the ban was lifted last Wednesday, couples had to wait until today because of a mandatory 3 business day waiting period. That didn’t stop gay couples from coming out in droves to collect their long awaited marriage licenses, and dozens of marriages are expected to take place all over the city today. Most couples are from the DC area, including Maryland and Virginia, but some drove hours in order to enjoy the freedom of marriage according to the Associated Press. Already three marriages have taken place in the offices of the Human Right Campaign, the nation’s largest gay advocate, and the gay-inclusive Unitarian church All Souls Church has ceremonies planned for the afternoon.

But not everyone in Washinton DC is celebrating. The National Orginizaion for Marriage (NOM), the nation’s most implacable anti-gay marriage group and ardent gay-right’s bashers, have been calling for a repeal all day and won’t shut up til they see some change and get the government to pull a Maine in DC. Guess who else is joining the party drunk off hateraide; those dicks from the Westboro Baptist Church (I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to post that link because of their horribly incendiary URL) came in from Topeka Kansas to spread their message of hate and closed-mindedness. But, no-worries all those happy couples in DC are too caught up in the joy of equality to pay any attention to all the boisterous gay-marriage opponents. Congratulations DC, and I hope this inspires other states to repeal bans on gay marriage.