Reuters: U.S.: Maryland ushers in New Year with its first gay weddings

Reuters: U.S. Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Maryland ushers in New Year with its first gay weddings Jan 1st 2013, 00:08 By Medina Roshan BALTIMORE | Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:08pm EST BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Wedding bells were set to ring in the New Year for seven gay couples in Maryland early on Tuesday, the first wave of nuptials since voters in the state backed the legalization of same-sex marriage. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will pronounce the seven couples "lawfully married" rather than "husband and wife" at the 12:30 a.m. ceremony on New Year's Day in City Hall. "It's just a long time coming," said Darcia Anthony, 32, who serves in the National Guard and will be married in the City Hall ceremony to her high school sweetheart, Danielle Williams, 32, a chef. "Being in the military, it's always been something I could never express to anyone. So much has changed. I feel like I'm definitely open to be who I am," Anthony said. Voters in Maryland, Maine and Washington state approved same-sex unions on Election Day November 6, becoming the only states to pass such a measure by popular vote. Nine of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., now have legalized gay marriage. Another 31 states have passed constitutional amendments banning it. Maryland's first gay couple to tie the knot will be city employee James Scales and his partner William Tasker, who have been together for 35 years, said the mayor's press secretary Ian Brennan. Soon after the November vote legalizing gay marriage, Scales asked the mayor to marry them. "She wanted to make a statement to tell gay, lesbian, transgendered couples that they're welcome here," Brennan said of the mayor's decision to host the ceremonies. Rawlings-Blake called the November vote "a remarkable achievement for Maryland" and welcomed friends and families of the couples to witness history at the early morning ceremony. "We are excited to open City Hall to host some of the first wedding ceremonies in our great state," Rawlings-Blake said in a news release. Public opinion has been shifting in favor of allowing same-sex marriage. A Pew Research Center survey from October found 49 percent of Americans favored allowing gay marriage, with 40 percent opposed. In May, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to say he believed same-sex couples should be allowed to get married. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The nation's highest court said this month it will review a case against a federal law that denies married same-sex couples the federal benefits that heterosexual couples receive. It also will look at a challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8, which voters narrowly approved in 2008. Washington state's law legalizing same-sex unions took effect on December 9 and Maine's on December 29. (Reporting by Medina Roshan; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Tim Dobbyn) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions