USA: Straight allies to get married too
Four opposite-sex couples turned up at the New York Marriage Bureau on July 24, the first day that same-sex couples were able to marry in the state of New York, to get married beside them and show solidarity with their new found right.
Teacher Gary Schmidt, 39, and artist Lainie Dalby, 32, of Glen Cove, Long Island, said they got a couple of ‘What are you doing heres’ when they first arrived, but let people know they were supporters.
“Our presence at the marriage bureau was intended to show our fierce support of the LGBTQ community on this profoundly significant day while celebrating our own love for each other,” said Schmidt, who, with his wife, is also a marriage celebrant.
Military couple Army Specialist Michael Velasquez, 28, and Private First Class Lorena Velasquez, 25 told journalists, “There’s love in the air – we’re all equal here.”
Vishal Arora and Hsinhua Yang, both 32, said they had chosen to come to the registry with history in mind.
“We thought we’d make this interesting,” Arora said, “This is a big day in history, and we wanted to be a part of it.”
Another two couples are believed to have shown up with similar intentions in other parts of the state.
The great winds of change are blowing.
Looks to me like the world did not end when the couples got hitched, just some people of religion no longer had the control over others.