Bible thumpers are going to have a field day with this one.
A gay couple in Edinburgh tied the knot over the weekend in Scotland’s first-ever pagan same-sex wedding ceremony complete with handfasting, sharing of mead, and jumping the broom.
Tom Lanting and Iain Robertson identify as hedge witches. They have been together for 12 years.
“As hedge witches we always wanted to have a pagan marriage ceremony in line with our beliefs and it was really important to us to be able to share this ceremony with our friends and family,” the couple told BBC News.
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The wedding happened deep down in the depths of a 16th-century vaulted stone cellar of Edinburgh’s Marlin’s Wynd, which once served as an underground market of sorts with a variety of shops, stalls and dwellings.
“Getting married in a legal pagan ceremony means so much to both of us,” the couple said.
Scotland is the only part of the U.K. where pagans, as well as other minority religious groups, are allowed to duly perform legal weddings.
Louise Park, the presiding officer for the Pagan Federation (Scotland), officiated last weekend’s ceremony. The Pagan Federation (Scotland) has been conducting mixed-sex pagan weddings since 2005.
“Equality for people of all faiths is something that is very dear to the vast majority of pagans,” she said, “and the Pagan Federation (Scotland) has made equal marriage for all pagans in Scotland one of our biggest campaigns over the last 10 years.”
Park continued: “We feel that, if any couple wish to, they should be able to make their marriage vows before their own personal Gods, friends and family, in a religious ceremony tailored to suit their own beliefs.”
Tom French, policy and public affairs coordinator for the Equality Network, told BBC News he was “delighted” to be in attendance for the U.K.’s first pagan same-sex marriage.
“Religious and belief groups played an important role in the campaign for equal marriage and this ceremony is a mark of equality and freedom of belief in Scotland,” he said.
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TomMc
“God bless those pagans.”
DonW
Editor: Typo in the headline. “Scotland holds its first…” not “it’s first…”
onthemark
WTF is “handfasting”? A gentler version of fisting?
Paul Nadolski
Congratulations! Personally I’m hoping to find Mr. Right and have a gay Buddhist wedding someday; never say never!
Mykaels
@onthemark: Its a traditional pagan wedding right (might be celtic) in which the couple puts their hands together and a cord is wrapped around their wrists, binding them for “as long as the love shall last” which are the words I use when I perform the rite.
o.codone
religion is poison, even this pagan sh*it.
Charlie in Charge
@o.codone: Nope, not at all. Pagans are asked to see themselves as they are, celebrate the Divine in everyone, and protect our planet.
o.codone
oh, you mean, just like, christians, jews, hindu’s and muslims? please. religion of all types is just crap.
Charlie in Charge
@o.codone: Actually yes, just like other world religions, they can be practiced in a healthy way that does not negatively impact other people in your life. Just like you can be an atheist in a healthy way that doesn’t harm anyone or you can be an atheist douchecanoe.
quin
I hate to put a dampener on their wedding but i had my hand fasting followed by the registering of the marriage in July in England its perfectly recognised elsewhere in the uk but as with all religious marriages you have to register them
Dave4445
Impossible to know if this is the first since the pagans of ancient times were sex positive, including same sex coupling.
Krakon2006
@onthemark: No it isn’t anything “Gay or sexual” it is a formal name for when two people join hands in marriage and is a ceremony where a “tying of the knot” is performed. Once upon a time that was how all marriages were performed. Pagans who rejoice in the ceremonies of the past still conduct their marriages this way, the same as our ancestors did so long ago. I hope that helps you to understand?
keith1984
Yes well met these two and I’ll tell you now they give gay people a bad name. They are the most arrogant people I have had the misfortune to come across and blatant liar’s.