Mia Adriano and Kathleen McGregor are planning to get up early this Tuesday, so they can be among the first in line at the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office to get their marriage license.
Although they had a commitment ceremony six years ago, the Pasadena couple has been waiting a lot time for this date--they had chosen not to go outside their home state to be married.
“We knew we wanted to have our marriage recognized by our community, as well as our family and friends,” said Kathleen. “So this Tuesday, we’ll be the first in line to get legal!” Adriano and McGregor will join gay and lesbian UU couples from San Diego to Humboldt who will be among the hundreds expected to line up at 8 a.m. June 17 to participate in the first legal civil weddings in California.
UUs who are not getting married are getting into the spirit, showing their love, support and enthusiasm for the freedom to marry. In Ventura and Orange Counties UUs will be handing out roses to couples in line at their County Clerk’s offices. In San Francisco UUs have been baking home-made wedding cupcakes to share the love. In Sacramento, it will be balloons. On Tuesday night in Humboldt, the congregation has invited the community over for a celebratory party.
In Bakersfield, a very conservative valley town, UUs face a different challenge. The Rev. Byrd Tetzlaff of the UU Fellowship of Kern County will be marrying couples free of charge outside the county courthouse with the support of members of her congregation. “When the Kern County Clerk announced that she would no longer be performing weddings for anyone, I knew that I needed to help fill the void,” she said.
Rev. Dr. Karen Stoyanoff of the Orange Coast UU Congregation in Costa Mesa is offering to perform weddings free of charge for an entire month, and many other UU ministers and congregations are also making special accommodations and scheduling additional weddings to ensure that all who want to marry before November’s ballot measure are able to do so.
UULM’s network has been used to identify couples, clergy and congregations whose stories have been featured in the media across the state, lifting into the public eye the faith community’s support for marriage equality. Listen in on Tuesday morning to KQED’s Forum to hear from the Rev. Rachel Anderson.
“Unitarian Universalists have been marrying same-sex couples in religious ceremonies for over four decades. We are thrilled to celebrate this great moment, and are dedicated to work with the interfaith community to ensure that both the fundamental freedom to marry and religious liberty are protected at the ballot in November, ” said UULM Executive Director Rev. Lindi Ramsden.
For information about how you can get involved in protecting the freedom to marry, please see our website at UULM-CA or contact us at lramsden@uulmca.org Also, visit CA Faith for Equality California Faith for Equality and sign up for the campaign at Equality for All. |
