Jennifer Traband, left, and Emme Scheible give an oath that their
information is accurate as gay couples are issued marriage licenses at
the King County Administration Building on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 Hundreds of couples lined up in downtown Seattle Wednesday night for the state's first batch of same-sex marriage licenses, in a historic, jubilant event that began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and was expected to last for hours.
They formed an eager, festive crowd, with couples young and old braving a night-time chill and wee-hours wait for the chance to make history at the normally dull King County Administration building. Supporters cheered for them with roses, coffee, hand-warmers and serenades of "Going to the Chapel."
The licensing marathon was expected to last more than 18 hours.
"Marriage should be a happy time, and it's a happy night," said State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Wash., who was among the crowd with his partner Michael Shiosaki. Murray was the chief sponsor of the marriage equality legislation passed by the Legislature last February.
Exactly one month has passed since Washington voted -- and King County voted overwhelmingly -- in favor of same-sex marriage through Referendum 74.
Jane Abbott Lighty and Pete-e Petersen, a West Seattle couple of 35 years, were the first couple to get a license, after waiting decades to get marrired. As the clock struck midnight, a crowd led by King County Executive Dow Constantine clapped and cheered, and Lighty, 77, and Petersen, 85, raised their hands to take an oath.
"People who have been waiting all these years to have their rights recognized should not have to wait one minute longer," said Constantine, who stayed up into the wee hours to issue the county's first marriage licenses.
"To have our 35-year loving relationship publicly honored and celebrated and have this be a legal marriage means everything to both of us," said Lighty, a former nurse. She and Petersen, a former Korean War flight nurse, will be wed at a Seattle Men's Chorus concert at Benaroya Hall this weekend.
The LGBT community had picked them for first-couple honors.
Dan Savage and his partner were also among the first couples to pick up a marriage license.
"It's really a remarkable journey we've been on and such a remarkable sea change," he said. "And not just for gay people, but straight people have changed, too. It's gotten better for us because straight people have gotten better about us."
King County issued 1,889 marriage licenses to heterosexual couples during July. It expects to equal that number in the first three days of licensing.
"The marriages will be the real fun," said George Bakan, editor-in-chief of Seattle Gay News. On the other side of James Street, City Hall will play host to 142 marriage ceremonies on Sunday, the first day that same-sex couples can get hitched.
How marriage equality happened
The festivities this weekend are a long time in coming. Just a year ago, marriage equality advocates started meeting around the state -- often in Protestant churches -- to plan how to convey their message to the Legislature. The key tactic turned out to be the telling of personal stories.
Amanda Beane and Anne Bryson-Beane, who have seven adopted kids, also picked up a marriage license, after being together for 15 years. They will be married at their home parish, Faith Luthern Church, on Jan. 26, 2013.
"Each of our adopted children understands that you can call someone family all you want, but until the court says it's forever, you are not seen as a 'real' family: When I marry my wife, for the first time our family will be seen by everyone for what we are -- a forever family," said Anne Bryson-Beane.
The United States has, in less than a decade, experienced a sea change in public attitude toward marriage equality.
In a 2004 get-out-the-vote tactic masterminded by (twice-divorced) Republican strategist Karl Rove, 11 states votes for statewide measures defining "marriage" as exclusively between a man and a woman.
Marriage equality was 0-for-32 at the polls, until last month. Washington, Maryland and Maine voted to become the seventh, eighth and ninth states to legalize marriage between same sex partners. Minnesota rejected a state constitutional amendment carrying the man-woman definition.
A Quinnipiac University poll, published Wednesday, showed a narrow plurality of Americans now endorsing marriage between couples of the same sex.
Dan Hinkley, an internationally renowned plant expert, remembered from his Indianola home how things used to be.
"I reflected last night on a conversation I had a decade ago at a small dinner party of young, techno-uber-rich and educated guests in New York," he said. "During an appropriate synapse of thought, I interjected an indignation of the inability of gay people to marry. I will never forget the silence that followed.
"I now wonder if those 'enlightened' people we were with that night remember that silence as well. It was very quiet. The thing about that silence is that it helped me fully comprehend what force we were against, and mostly what enormous changes people in my parents' generation -- my dad, 92, is going strong, my mom just passed away at 90 -- were facing, and have faced."
'An opportunity to validate'
Same-sex couples in Washington have been united in commitment ceremonies long before tonight's arrival of formal marriage. "Taking pictures is something I've been doing for years," joked Dani Weiss, one of seven photographers donating time at Sunday's City Hall festivities.
As to the coming of marriage, added Weiss, "It's an opportunity to validate."
The couples lining up at the King County Administration Building will be married according to their lives, professions and surroundings.
Gabe Verdugo and Adam Forcier, together eight years, will be married Sunday in the chambers of Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steve Gonzalez. Verdugo is a clerk for the justice.
King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu will marry Brendon Taga and Jesse Page of Vashon Island at 12:20 a.m. Sunday, 20 minutes after it becomes legal to perform the ceremony. "When Jesse and I have children in the near future, we want to be able to share our family's history in certain, unequivocal terms," said Taga.
Teri Bednarski and Saracristina Garcia, from Tacoma, volunteers from the Referendum 71 and 74 campaigns, plan to get married at Lake Quinault. Neil Hoyt and Donald Glenn Jenny, together 24 years and active with the Seattle Men's Chorus, will be married at the Sunday night concert.
Others are holding off.
Sen. Murray and his partner Shiosaki will set a date later this summer, close to the anniversary of when the couple met on a hike up to the Carbon Glacier on Mount Rainier. "I was younger then," joked Murray.
"Different people are going to do this different ways."
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