(Lexington, May 17, 2004) In the Massachusetts town where the battle for liberty began over 225 years ago, same sex couples arrived at the Town Clerk's office to celebrate another liberty for the first time—the ability to apply for, and receive, a marriage license.

Town Clerk Donna Hooper welcomed couples, two at a time, into the Town Clerk's office, as outside the Town Hall, members of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the Lexington Respecting Differences Coalition, and members of the Interfaith Clergy Council as well as friends and family, handed out roses to the couples, cheered, applauded, and shed tears of joy. The scene is one that was played out in every city and town in Massachusetts today, the first day in the first state in the nation when same sex marriage becomes legal.

Among those applying for a license in Lexington were Meg Soens and Cecilia d'Oliveira, members of First Parish in Lexington UU , who arrived with their children Richard, Alice, Peter, and Sophie and twenty friends from their congregation, including Minister Emerita Helen Lutton Cohen. About twelve other same sex couples arrived for the opening of Town Offices, and were greeted by members of the Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, and Jewish clergy, as well as balloons, rice, rose petals, and applause for each couple exiting the town offices. Also present to congratulate the couples were State Rep. Jay Kaufman and State Senator Robert Havern, who made brief speeches to the crowd of 75 in which they affirmed the significance of the day.

In nearby Arlington, Mass., several miles down the same road on which colonial Minutemen marched as they defended freedom, a similar celebration was held as Town Hall opened to accept applications for marriage licenses. More than fifty members of First Parish in Arlington stood outside with white roses to congratulate couples entering Town Hall, including the Rev. Dr. Barbara Whittaker-Johns, Senior Minister of First Parish UU in Arlington.

Most of the couples taking out marriage licenses will be able to marry on Thursday, May 20, although a number of couples are seeking waivers of the three-day waiting period through Probate Court so that they can marry today. The first marriage in the state was performed at 9:15 a.m. in Cambridge, legally uniting Tanya McCloskey, 52 and Marcia Kadish, 56.

Today all seven of the landmark Freedom to Marry suit's plaintiff couples are expected to be married, with David Wilson and Rob Compton wed at 10:30 a.m. at Arlington Street Church in Boston, and Hillary and Julie Goodridge, lead plaintiffs, married at the headquarters of the UUA by the Rev. William Sinkford at 2:00 PM.

Postscript

On May 22, 2004, Meg Soens and Cecilia d’Oliveira (pictured above) were married at their home with their immediate family and their four children around them. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dan Smith, Associate Minister of Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington and the Rev. Helen Cohen, minister emerita of First Parish in Lexington Unitarian Universalist. After being together for seventeen years, this couple, like so many others in Massachusetts, now enjoy the legal protections of marriage and the recognition that they are on equal footing with other married couples.

Visit Meg and Cel’s wedding photo album

— Reported by Deborah Weiner; photographs by Deborah Weiner and Jim Austin.