PORTLAND, Maine –A chorus of whoops and cheers greeted Steven Bridges and Michael Snell as they exited City Hall in Portland, Maine, early Saturday as the first same-sex couple to wed under a new law.
Supporters of the law allowing same-sex marriage — passed by a referendum in November — jumped up and down, flashed their cameras and sang the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”
“It’s very surreal still,” Snell said.
The couple did not know they would be the first to take advantage of the new law.
“We finally feel equal, and happy to live in Maine,” Bridges said.
Same-sex marriage rights have been denied in many states in the past, but last month, voters in Maine, Washington and Maryland decided to change that.
The Maine measure states that men and women, “relating to the marital relationship or familial relationships must be construed to be gender-neutral for all purposes.”
The measure also mentions the right of clergy to refuse to wed gay and lesbian couples if it goes against their religious convictions.
The governments of Maine and Maryland had passed laws permitting same-sex marriage, but activists opposed to the laws collected enough signatures to put them on November’s ballot.
In 2009, a similar referendum in Maine failed when voters rejected the governor’s decision to allow same-sex marriage. This year’s results represent a remarkable turnaround.
A similar scene of jubilation took place in Seattle this month, when same-sex couples were able to exchange vows for the first time.
Newly married same-sex couples in these three states have expressed hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will issue rulings favorable to their marriages.
This month, the justices said they would hear two constitutional challenges to state and federal laws dealing with the recognition of gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.
Oral arguments will probably be held in March, with a ruling by late June.
One appeal to be heard involves the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married in their own states.
The second is a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, a voter-approved measure that took away a right of same-sex marriage that had been approved by the state’s courts.
CNN
22 Comments to “Couples Wed Under Maine’s New Gay Marriage Law”
December 29, 2012 at 9:31 PM
What if I want to marry my dog? Is that ok or not?
December 29, 2012 at 10:05 PM
No sorry…. Marriage is still just for humans in Maine… But what you and your dog do behind closed doors is nobodys business but you and your dogs.
December 29, 2012 at 10:49 PM
Animals don't give consent ! Two same-sex individuals can !
December 30, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Yeah sarab, I know…. I was being facitious…. Thanks for catching that.
December 30, 2012 at 5:03 AM
Sorry, no animal marriages. But you are allowed to marry your toaster or any corpse you find at a graveyard.
December 29, 2012 at 9:37 PM
Just let them get married, freaks.
December 29, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Freaks? Your brother marries another man, and I am the freak?
December 30, 2012 at 12:54 AM
Thats the silliest thing i've ever heard of besides illegal immigration and mexican 3rd world savages invading our country…….HAS THIS COUNTRY GONE TO CRAP OR WHAT!…..WTF?…….This place has turned into a F***ing Freak show!……HOW THE F**K COULD IT GET ANY WEIRDER,ITS ALL BEEN DONE NOW!!!!!!!!!!…….JUST WHEN AMERICA GOT WEAK ENOUGH,THE ONSLAUGHT CAME AT HER ALL AT ONCE!……Wonder why nobody came at her 200,100,50 years ago?….WHY NOW?
December 30, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Yeah… Darn those taxpaying adults wanting equal rights under the law anyways. That pesky U.S. Constitution is going to ruin us yet.
December 30, 2012 at 12:57 AM
i really don't have a problem with gay marraige,,,i just wished the lesbians looke better!…….all i see is morphite dykes that look like ugly little men,with horrible hairdews!…….LMFAO @ these freaks of nature!
December 30, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Beauty is only skin deep…. But ugly goes all the way to the bone.
December 30, 2012 at 5:01 AM
…and somehow ALL the straight marriages in the entire country are still in one piece. Shocking news! I thought once marriage was "redefined" (like it was 45 years ago), that all straight couples would get a divorce because marriage wouldn't mean the same thing anymore. Don't tell me that the anti-gay bigots were lying about that?!
December 30, 2012 at 10:09 AM
No pole smokers or carpet munchers should be allowed to get "Married". Why get married, you will continue married or not to smoke poles and munch carpet. Be like the Normal People, find the opposite sex and go at it .
December 30, 2012 at 5:47 PM
So your wife isn't a pole smoker and you aren't a carpet muncher? You are now required to get divorced. Idiot.
December 30, 2012 at 10:21 AM
until I looked at the paycheck for $7906, I have faith that my neighbours mother was like realie making money part time from there new laptop.. there aunt haz done this 4 only about nineteen months and just now cleard the mortgage on their apartment and bourt a new Car. this is where I went, jump15.comCHECK IT OUT
December 30, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Fu@k you again and your phony money making scheme.
December 30, 2012 at 12:04 PM
The rump ramping Romeo's in Maine will be very happy.
December 30, 2012 at 5:51 PM
And now you might even get a date.
December 30, 2012 at 2:23 PM
Pinches Puercos!!!!!