Black gay couples in Mass. mark marriage anniversary

[Chovexani]

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across Massachusetts are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversaries this week and, while same-sex marriage remains a contentious issue, the state’s black gay community wants opponents to know that the lingering anger and confusion toward their unions are much ado about nothing.

The Commonwealth made history on Nov. 18, 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court delivered its judgment in the hotly contested case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. In that landmark ruling, the court declared that the state could not deny same-sex couples that wished to marry the same benefits and protections afforded in civil marriage, and that the state would be required to allow same-sex marriages to start taking place on May 17, 2004.

(snip)

Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons hosted a fifth-anniversary celebration at City Hall last Sunday. Cambridge was the first city in the nation to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples five years ago, and Simmons said she wanted to recall the energy of those times by welcoming couples who wanted to get married or renew their vows.

Simmons, who is the nation’s first openly lesbian black mayor, is also a justice of the peace. She remembers the excitement she felt five years ago, when gay couples for whom she had performed commitment ceremonies started to come back, wanting to be legally married.

“I call it New Year’s Eve in May,” Simmons said. “It was really an opportunity to enjoy the rights of full level of citizenship in the Commonwealth.”

http://www.baystatebanner.com/local16-2009-05-21

The article is from last week but a good read.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. I love my state!

And it was really cool to see a young woman at Honors Convocation get an award for her work on queer theory, her independent study on Bell Hooks, and her paper on Foucault and the construction of the closet. :D