From the NY TImes.
Jeffry Burr and Neil Blair are just hours from their wedding, but there are no typical prenuptial jitters. After all, this is the third time they've exchanged vows.
They first committed to each other before scores of relatives and friends on June 24, 2006, in an emotional ceremony that didn't even count under New Hampshire law. Then, at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2008, the first moment they were legally able to do so, they became civilly committed in a more subdued ceremony.
This time, the two will finally be legally married Friday, when New Hampshire becomes the fifth state to allow gay couples to wed.....
The ceremony is more about pronouncing their civil equality than restating their commitment to each other, they say.
"It's a right that's been afforded to us, and it's our responsibility to take advantage of it," Blair said.
...
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.....
Winter's starkness is their wedding theme.
"We want people to recognize we had to wait a long, long time," Hess said.
....
Burr and Blair said New Hampshire's marriage law, while important, does not grant them full equality.
"We're halfway there," Blair said. "We got the state rights. We had civil unions. Now we have marriage. But until we get full equal rights under the federal law, we'll never be there. We'll never be truly equal."
Congratulations, New Hampshire-ites. May your love and commitment be a beacon for our GLBT family in other states!
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