A joyful crowd of hundreds erupted into cheers early Saturday morning when the state’s first same-sex married couple exited Portland City Hall.
“We worked for this!” one woman shouted just before Michael Snell and Steven Bridges emerged into the cold night air and shared a brief kiss on the steps before heading home.
They looked happy and a little overwhelmed by the size and exuberance of the people in the plaza. Some blew bubbles, some tossed flowers and some held posters aloft hand-lettered with slogans such as “America’s new day begins in Maine.” A man played the opening notes of “All You Need is Love” on a trombone and the refrain was quickly picked up by the crowd.
“Love is all you need!” they sang loudly.
Valerie Wisch of Portland said that when she came out years ago she never imagined that she’d ever witness this day.
“I’m totally amazed and happy, and I feel like I’m on another planet,” she said. “It just shows you how many people wanted this to happen. It’s about time. We’re ready, and it’s time for the rest of the country and the rest of the world to be ready.”
Molly Bernier, 14, of Yarmouth, was among the people bundled up against the below-freezing temperatures. She said that it felt like history was being made in front of her.
“I just want to support everybody,” she said. “I wanted to witness this important event. I’m very proud of Maine for doing this.”
Philomina Haley of Brunswick, 24, said that she was supporting a friend who was getting married inside but also felt that she needed to be among the crowd.
“It’s a really good day to be out here,” she said. “It’s a very monumental and big day.”
Earlier in the night, a man stood across the plaza singing gospel songs and calling out religious scriptures in protest of the occasion. The man, who refused to give his name, called same-sex marriages “abominations” and “wickedness,” and said that by allowing them, Mainers are “turning our backs on God’s commandments.”
Congratulations :)
I’m proud to witness this day in history and I wish them all the best.
Kevin – Good to see you posting. My best to all with whom I have posted over the years since the 2009 debacle. Congratulations! It was a long, hard battle but well worth it.
Maine has the distinction of being the first to pass SSM by a voter initiated ballot. That is remarkable. And, I am sure more than one person as reminded us, “As Maine goes, so goes the Nation.” Let us hope so.
Admittedly, I do take some perverse pleasure in checking the NOM website to see the latest the spin-masters have created. They still claim their boycott of Starbucks is working! They have yet to hit 50,000 signatures after almost a year of this boycott. The Sum of Us pro-Starbucks signature effort? Currently, it is at 651,000 signatures. Yet NOM claims victory. Do you remember Baghdad Bob? He was the Iraqi military spokesman claiming the Americans “were dying in droves and committing suicide at the gates of Baghdad.” Meanwhile, he is surrounded. One day, he did not show up for the Press conference. Perhaps, the some day, probably after Brian’s & Maggie’s 401k’s are fully vested, they too will sail off into the sunset to leave the rest of us alone and in peace.
I remember Baghdad Bob all to well and I”ll have to check out NOM’s website to see how much crying they are doing and speaking of sailing off into the sunset I wish I could remember the name of the poster who said that ship would sink before it sailed. They must feel pretty foolish today.
I remember Baghdad Bob all to well and I”ll have to check out NOM’s website to see how much crying they are doing and speaking of sailing off into the sunset I wish I could remember the name of the poster who said that ship would sink before it sailed. They must feel pretty foolish today.
You know, I am sure they do not. I remember that posting about the ship sinking, etc. They live in a peculiar bubble that shields them from reality. They truly believe what they believe – kind of a faith – without looking at facts or reality. Someone quite rightly said “beliefs are not facts.” This was evidenced in the recent Presidential election. Watching the reruns of Fox News and the sheer and utter disbelief in the eyes of Karl Rove and Bill Bennett was something to see. Even Romney believed up until the end that he was going to win – to the point where he did not prepare a concession speech! That is the definition of blind faith. I thought the President would be reelected and it probably would be around 290 electoral votes. But, 332 to 206! No way did I see that. And, having won the vast majority of the swing states, it was not an election but more of a rout.
The NOM website is kind of a hoot. They really are not crying. They tout the most obscure items they can dig up as justification for how their movement is succeeding – just as did Baghdad Bob. Wild claims about how Olympia Snowe and Barney Frank were “defeated” when both choose to retire. Of course, no mention of Barney Frank’s possible return to the Senate to take over John Kerry’s seat if Kerry is confirmed as the new Secretary of State.
NOM also moderates their postings. It is rare than any comment that is anti-NOM or pro-SSM ever is allowed to be posted. Their goal is to stir up angst and get the coffers filled. There is always money in controversy and I suspect NOM will continue on even after SSM becomes the law of the land. The group will disband, reform, and be reborn as the “National Organization to Restore Marriage” or, “NORM.” Maggie and Brian can milk this into retirement. I see they have a new kid on-board who looks rather “bookish” and I suppose is there to put a young face on their movement. Personally, he looks like he has a few skeletons in his closet but that remains to be seen, I suppose.
Seems their focus is now on Deleware and their facebook page is pretty amusing. At least the pro-SSM folks can get their voice heard there.
Wow!
BDN Has turned into an official Gay information center. Disgusting!!
5 stories out of 15, I say overkill.
Sorry it’s called informing the public.If it were some conservative crap,there couldn’t be enough stories to suit you,I’m sure.
conservative crap like what? A man marrying a woman. Wow! Biology 101.
indoctrination. The BDN has been working on this for a few years. The Bangor Gaily News.
Reporting on the facts, on something that’s actually happening, hundreds gathering — you want them to lie and cover that up? Sounds like you’re the one pushing for indoctrination.
just sore you lost .
they are informing the public on this day in history. it was a huge day in history when women were given equal rights, why not share this, oh wait, that’s right, you don’t think we should because you’re a bigot and you lost.!
How unnecessary and sad, to be upset and outraged over other Mainers celebrating this historic day.
You’ll get over it, just as racists got over interracial marriage and the end of segregation decades ago.
best that you read something less mainstream Is that homemade black back grounded website that is usually use for your source of info “down'” today?
I wish I’d been there to share the JOY.Much happiness to all!
Years ago you could find on the shelves of some Maine stores the book, “Why Gay Guys are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
How could you argue with that? Anybody who thinks about it at all knows that gay guys are everybody’s best friend.
Ever see one run up your taxes by sending 8 snotty-nosed kids to your school’s remedial reading program?
Ever have one break your heart by marrying your high school sweetheart or running off with your wife?
This article, and several letters below it in substandard English, brought to mind a poem I wrote years ago when I was a young, single man. It summarizes my feelings at the time:
“Oh what a great world this would be,
If all the guys were gay — but me.”
The humble Farmer
Everyone in this life deserves a shot at happiness.
It’s good to see happy, loving people in the news.
Even if gay people marrying isn’t your thing, remember that there are two people who only want to be officially recognized as a couple with the one they love. It’s a commitment to each other, now recognized by a ceremony and paperwork. The fundamentalists have tried to turn it into something else.
God has established marriage. There is no place in His Kingdom for homosexuality. Marriage is marriage; what has happened in Portland is not.
We’ll, we’re talking about civil law and since we’re a secular nation, what you’re talking about is irrelevant.
God blesses couples who have found in one another a loving, supportive lifelong commitment.
There is certainly place in His Kingdom for all of His Children. Love is love, and God does not condemn love.
In the secular world, the Maine voters and the Governor established marriage. God had nothing to do with secular marriage. Marriage is not marriage, as you like to quote. There is legal, secular marriage recognized by the State and then another form of marriage, that of a religious ceremony usually in a church.
If you do not believe this, then please explain this paradox: Take a man and a woman, both atheists who wish to marry. They go to city hall, get their marriage license, and are married by a Notary Public. There is no mention of God, religion, or any deity. From that point on, their marriage is recognized by the State, all other States, the Federal government, and all other countries.
Now, the question I ask you: Is that couple married?
If you say no because a church was not involved to have the marriage blessed by the grand poobah of your particular religion, then you have missed the point entirely. My only suggestion is to study basic law because I cannot make it any plainer unless I drew it in comic book fashion.
Wait, I still don’t get it. I think I need the comic book version.
Well, this is best I can do:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/23/marvel-gay-wedding-dc-hero
I think that’s an old article. The DC character it’s talking about is Alan Scott.
Yes, true. Alan Scott is the new gay Green Lantern. But, I could not find a good picture/article about him. Sorry.
It is amazing to me the level of ignorance of the general public when it comes to the two forms of marriage – secular and sectarian. They just cannot seem to grasp that a couple can be married by a judge or Notary Public after obtaining a state-issued marriage license, and that couple is legally married. There is nothing at all to do with a church – no religion or God involved – none of that. Yet, this concept is utterly elusive to them! It boggles the mind.
Now, if this were something new, perhaps I could understand it, but countless movies and books have been written where a couple runs off, elopes, and is married by a Justice of the Peace. My grandparents were married by a JP in NH in 1926! There is no connection whatsoever with a church or blessing from some Grand Poobah in the sky and never was. Are people just so completely out-of-touch with the world and history and how things work that they do not know this???
It is so ludicrous it baffles the imagination. What’s next? Water is wet – “a governmental conspiracy against God and the Church?”
It doesn’t seem to me that I remember people being this stupid when I was a kid. Maybe Agent Orange has kicked in? Or, perhaps, with the internet we now hear from these people when before they were relegated to some backwater wolfing down Moon Pies and chug-a-luggin RC Cola? I have no idea where they came from.
Well, enough of that rant! Thanks for your entertaining replies!
No problem :)
Good luck talking some common sense into them– I’m not even trying. I figure that no one, especially in a BDN comment thread, is going to change my mind about this issue. I doubt that a close-minded, homophobic troll is going to be any more welcoming to opposing arguments.
On that note, congratulations to all the newly-wed!
Do us all a favor, pal, and keep your nasty plaster deity to yourself. These denominations will marry same gender couples in 9 US States and the District of Columbia, and have married them in California:
The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists
The Episcopal Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Metropolitan Community Church
Conservative Judaism
Reform Judaism
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Unitarian Universalist Church
United Church of Christ
All these major denominations reject your lies.
Awwww… honey, our civil law don’t follow no religion!
With liberty and justice for all.
and why didn’t his only son marry?
God exists only in your imagination. Neither you nor anyone else has any right to impose your internal delusions on the rest of us. Go back into your closet.
of course the guy singing religious songs and scriptures and calling it wicked refused to give his name, he knows he’s a bigot and doesn’t want to be known. if he was doing gods work and righteous work, he would be okay with his name being public for all to hear.
What a great sight!
Amazing! Congratulations to all!
Oh, and to the naysayers who complained about City Hall being opened for “special hours?” I have two things to say:
1. Pffftttt!
2. Did I read there were 15 couples who obtained marriage licenses those short hours the Portland City Clerk’s office was open? That’s probably far more licenses per hour than they’d ever issue. So, let’s say it’s 15. 15 times $40 in fees is $600.00 revenue. I doubt it cost $600 to keep the office open for a few hours. Add-in the national publicity and advertising for tourism/weddings in Maine – it was a wise investment. The whole deal – midnight office openings and weddings – lots of national news cameras. It is tailor-made for national news. The publicity alone is worth all that plus the City got $600 in fees. Pretty good deal.
It must be such a conflict for the bible-thumping Tea Party crowd – here is a very pro-business, free-advertising, estimated $22M/annual revenue for the State at no cost to implement or maintain vs. all the religious hang-wringing going on.
“What to do! What to do!” I hear from the bible thumpers.
I’ll tell you what to do – chill out! Just because some couples who love each other decide to marry and now have a piece of state-issued paper to protect them and their families, altering nothing in their day-to-day lives, is not going to cause Maine to spiral into the Abyss of Hell for All Eternity. Amen. Just get over it already. Sheesh! What a bunch of grumps.
Going through life with your knickers all in a twist about the two guys down the street who now have a piece of paper from the State is no way to live. Believe me, they are not thinking about you. You need not concern yourself about them.
Indeed. Congrats to Maine and the couples who will now enjoy equal rights under the law!
I am grateful that Marriage equality has come to Maine within my lifetime. I was beginning to doubt that it would.
.
I had the blessing of marriage with the most wonderful women in all of creation for over 50 years. I wish all of these couples all of the joy and love that we enjoyed!
Ooooo aint that sweeet lol
I was there and it was wonderful to see equality at work. My only issue with the entire event was not allowing authorized clergy or notaries to perform weddings on the sidewalk without a permit, (required by and paid for by the couples), yet allowing ceremonies to take place inside city hall (also public property) without the very same permit requirement. Congratulations to all the newly married families.
I had not heard that. Offhand, I cannot think why any officiant who is permitted to officiate weddings would not be allowed to do so on the sidewalk. Are you speaking of some kind of “public assembly” permit that would have applied for any “event,” as well? I suppose I could see that as some kind of technicality on the books but quite right, some provision could have been made. That is, get the permit up-front before the ceremonies started. I would not have thought about the requirement for such a permit.
I am fine with permits being required, and Portland requires a permit which is fine as long as it is fairly and equally enforced. Couples pay the permit fee to be married on public property. However apparently there is no permit fee inside city hall which is public property? The wedding minister that showed up said he could only perform ceremonies inside his motor home since he paid a fee to park. I am simply wondering why the ceremonies performed at city hall do not have to pay the permit fee since city hall is public property?
Oh, I suppose the whole idea behind a permit fee (applied to all couples) is related to crowd control and the possible impact of “obstructing a public way” and all that sort of thing. I mean, you could not very well have 500 people on a sidewalk without causing some kind of logistical problem.
Within City Hall, I doubt you’d have the need for a permit. You probably wouldn’t have 500 people, either.
My guess is the permit is to alert the authorities to the potential for crowd control, etc. Probably like getting a parade permit. Just a guess. No big deal if applied fairly and equally and I see no indication of it being otherwise.
Gays and Lezbos from away claiming to be Mainers, more like perverts and degenerates who are not Mainers and never will be Mainers in the eyes of native born Mainers!
I’m a straight, married, native born Mainer and I have no issues with people ‘from away’ getting married here. People from all over the country come to Maine to get married- so?. This affects you how? After looking at any of your posts which are always pejorative, negative and disrespectful…..as a native Mainer I have much more of a problem with someone as angry and apparently as uneducated and hostile as you than I ever would with two adults who want to marry one another. Time to beat a new drum chum the sun does not clearly revolve around you and you tiny little white. straight, scared, male world. Try again.