Scenes from a Wedding
PHOTOS: Marriage Bureau Gives Couple The Thumbs Up. INS, Not So Much.
Queerty is posting images from same-sex wedding celebrations in New York State. Have a great shot of your own? Send it to us at holla@queerty.com.
“It was all so surreal. Neither Sebastian nor I were expecting so much love and support from total strangers. I felt like we were a part of a landmark moment in history that day. There was a couple standing right behind us who had been together for 31 years—it was overwhelming to see the anticipation in their faces. I felt humbled by them and by all the other couples who had been in committed relationships and who had been denied this moment for so many years. Sebastian and I have been together for five years, and even we could hardly believe that this day had come.
For us, the win for marriage equality in New York was still a little hampered by the fact that DOMA prevents me as a U.S. citizen from providing Sebastian, a German citizen, all the rights and protections that are offered to opposite-sex couples by the federal government. Nevertheless, we felt fortunate to be in that moment in time.” —Johnny Lee
Johnny Lee and his husband, Sebastian Barlebe, were married on Sunday, July 24, in Manhattan.
3 Comments
No. 3 ·
Rainfish
My spouse and I got married in Canada. We are from the Midwest, USA. For more than twenty-nine years we waited to be wed. We were among the first Americans to be married in Vancouver as soon as it became legal there; before the federal recognition of same-sex marital rights in Canada.
You can read our story here:
http://rainfish2000.blogspot.c.....rried.html
Jul 26, 2011 at 8:49 am · @Reply
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I totally feel for Johnny Lee and his husband, Sebastian. I’m an American living in Germany with a “Lebenspartnerschaft” (Life Partnership) with my German partner, Domi. We have been together since 2005 and I just couldn’t wait any more for the US government to stop treating us like second class citizens, so in 2009 I moved to Germany to be with Domi. Germany isn’t quite ready yet for “marriage” either, but with a Lebenspartnerschaft I get permenant residency plus the ability to work here in Germany. Granted, I had to learn the language first but I’m getting there. It is nice to know, though, that maybe one day in the near future we’d be able to live in the U.S. as a married couple, with him getting the same rights that a foreign heterosexual spouse would have.