Marriages Begin in MN and RI

Same sex couples are now able to marry in Minnesota and Rhode Island.  Congratulations, everyone!

From the Star Tribune:

The streets outside Minneapolis City Hall were filled with newly-wedded gay and lesbian couples reveling in their new marital status Thursday morning while inside dozens more waited their turn in lines that lasted until dawn. 

Down the street at the Hotel Minneapolis, Cathy ten Broeke and Margaret Miles, the first couple legally wed in Minnesota, partied into the night, wearing the same slinky dresses they wore 12 years earlier at their commitment ceremony. This time, ten Broeke said with some satisfaction, was different because this “was the state of Minnesota committing to us and our family.” 

Mayor R.T. Rybak worked through the night and early morning hours, officiating the weddings of 42 gay and lesbian couples on the marble steps of the City Hall Rotunda where, at the bottom, the massive Father of Waters statue was surrounded by folding chairs, wedding guests and dozens of clicking cameras.

And from the Providence Journal: 

From Newport to Pawtucket, Rhode Islanders Thursday visited city halls at the first moments on the first day that marriage licenses are available for gay couples.

In Newport, Federico Santi and John Gacher came in promptly at 8 a.m. to the City Clerk's office to get their marriage license.

They had waited 41 years for this and within a few minutes the documents were signed and the couple were married. They were the first same-sex couple to marry in Newport under a new state law.

Congratulations, everyone!