Last Monday, gay marriage became legal in the US state of Massachusetts, which immediately led to a run on marriage licences there, in towns like Cambridge. One couple who did so, couple 243, blogged their experience. It is a very emotional, happy piece:
We paid our $15 and walked up the stairs to the exit. People shook our hands on the way out, and as we walked out the front door at 4:15am we were greeted by a small cheering crowd.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” they yelled as we got to the bottom of the nearly-deserted steps. We kissed, posed for a picture and drove home through the nearly deserted streets.
(Brian)
[…]
I have a hard time gauging what my emotions were as we started running up the gauntlet — the avenue that led from the sidewalk on Mass Ave. up to the front doors of City Hall — to find that there were relatively few couples seeking licenses — fewer than the thousand I might have expected — but that there were about three thousand just *watching* — a mass of people singing spontaneously, chanting, waving signs, all with their own little political agendas to defeat bush or proclaim love for gays or just be happy that we were getting what they had rights to — a mass overfilling the lawn in front of City Hall, filling the sidewalk on both sides of Mass Ave, and stretching tendrils up and down several blocks, towards both Harvard and Central. As soon as Brian grabbed my hand and said let’s give it a try, and started running, they all started cheering, clapping, screaming. I did not expect that.
(Aaron
It’s hard to imagine the impact this has in the US when you’re living in a country where gay marriage has been legal for a number of years now. Where it was realised more as the logical end result of the emancipation process rather than as something people had to fight hard for. It must feel so good to finally be able to proclaim your love for each other the way you want to, knowing there are so many who would keep that from you; even if Bush pushes through a constitutional amedament tomorrow making it illegal again, the moment itself can never be taken from you anymore.
Good luck and congratulations to Brian and Aaron; may they and all those other couples who can finally
marry have a long and happy marriage.