NEWARK, N.J.—Right after the stroke of midnight Monday, seven same-sex couples said “I do” in the marble rotunda of Newark’s City Hall as New Jersey became the 14th state in the union to allow gay marriage.
Senator-elect Cory Booker presided over the weddings, enthusiastically telling each couple, “you may kiss your spouse,” after warning that marriage should not be entered into lightly. The new spouses included a bus driver, two social workers, a municipal court data processor and the retired dean of students at Rutgers University.
“Today is a victory for love,” Booker said, before the newlywed couples chowed down on cake and sipped champagne as dozens of news cameras and reporters watched from behind a roped-off area. The state’s Supreme Court rejected a request from Chris Christie’s administration last week to delay the weddings until it makes a final decision on whether gay marriage is legal in the state. The court said the state’s argument against gay marriage is unlikely to win out, and that the state has no reason to deny gay couples the right to marry.
James Credle, 68, and Pierre Dufresne, 56, were among those wed early Monday morning. The couple first met in 1987 at a gay rights march on Washington, but didn’t get together until 2006. “It was complicated,” Dufresne joked. Credle, who’s originally from North Carolina, wore a gold, floor-length traditional gown from Ghana, while Dufresne wore a simple black suit for the ceremony.
Credle was married before, to a man in the Netherlands who later passed away. After his husband died, he rekindled his romance with Dufresne, who is Canadian. The two spent their entire courtship long-distance.
“I really never thought I would do it because I wanted to wait for all 50 states to have [same-sex marriage],” Credle said of the wedding. But he changed his mind when he heard about the state Supreme Court’s ruling allowing marriages to take place last week. Credle, who lives in Newark, is a retired dean of students at Rutgers. Dufresne is a computer graphics artist.
The Rev. Donald Ransom, an assistant pastor at Unity Fellowship Church and Credle’s friend of 40 years, served as witness. The pair gave each other an Eskimo kiss after Booker declared them married in the state of New Jersey.
Orville Bell, an educator, said he met his new spouse Joseph Panessidi, a retired advertising executive, at a gay bar 15 years ago. Both are activists for gay rights in the community, and friends of Booker’s. The pair, both 65, entered into a civil union four years ago. “We’re now really happy to be able to change that to marriage,” Panessidi said. “It’s clear now—you can’t misunderstand what our relationship is. It can’t be denied or refuted by anyone.”
Jenelle Torres, 42, said she’s been with her new wife Lydia Torres, a UPS driver, for seven years, when the pair met at Unity Fellowship Church. “It was monumental,” Torres said of the ceremony. “It’s humbling.” She wore a gold floor-length gown, while her wife wore a suit and bow tie.
Lynne Womble, 49, met her wife Debra Summers, 47, when they were set up on a blind date three years ago. “I knew I wanted to get married,” Womble, an administrative assistant, said. Summers proposed when the two went on a weekend trip.
It remains to be seen how many same-sex couples will take advantage of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling and get married in the coming weeks. Unlike Newark, some towns have not yet begun issuing licenses. David Levy, a rabbi at Temple Shalom in Succasunna, said his congregation includes same-sex couples who have married in Canada or New York already, but who now no longer have to worry about their home state recognizing their unions. “What’s great is their marriages will be recognized, God willing, here,” Levy said.
Tracy Sprowls, a pastor at First Unitarian in Plainfield, said Unitarian churches would be performing same-sex marriages all day Monday.
- Family & Relationships
- Cory Booker
- gay marriage
- Pierre Dufresne
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