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WASHINGTON — It is a day of wedding bells for some gay couples in Washington as same-sex pairs began picking up marriage licenses on their first eligible day after the law changed last week.

Fifteen licenses were picked up in the first hour the marriage bureau was opened and two couples already got married and returned to pick up their certificates, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz said.

Some couples planned ceremonies the same day at a gay rights group’s office while others said they’ll wait and have more elaborate celebrations.

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About 150 couples were eligible to collect their marriage licenses Tuesday after applying on the first day the licenses were made available last Wednesday. The District has a mandatory three-business-day waiting period.

The District of Columbia, as the federal enclave is known, is the sixth place in the United States permitting same-sex unions. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue same-sex couples licenses. Once couples pick up their license, they have to have the person who performs their marriage sign it and then return it to the marriage bureau to be recorded.

Three morning weddings were planned at the office of the Human Rights Campaign, which does advocacy work on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Later, a couple had a ceremony planned at All Souls Church — the same place where Mayor Adrian Fenty in December signed the bill legalizing the unions.

Other couples said they already had ceremonies and would simply wed at the courthouse, which has space for about 15 people in a ceremony room. Most of those celebrations will take place during the weeks of March 22 and March 29, courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz.

Normally, the courthouse has four to six weddings a day, but over the next several weeks they are expecting 10 to 12 per day. The court’s official marriage booklet has been updated so that the ceremony will end by pronouncing the couple “legally married” as opposed to “husband and wife.”

More than 300 people applied for marriage licenses from Wednesday to Friday, almost all same-sex couples, Gurowitz said.

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Tags: Gay Marriage, Washington D.C.
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  • http://www.ezshop4me.com/archives/92045/ First Same-Sex Weddings Take Place In D.C. | News One | All Topics Blog

    [...] Katie Martin wrote an interesting post today on&nbsp Here’s a quick excerpt &nbspIt is a day of wedding bells for some gay couples in Washington as same-sex pairs began picking up marriage licenses after the law changed last week. [...]

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/smittytva/ smittytva

    sick sick people ,the world is coming to a end next thing you know you see these disgusting people kissing each other in public places.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/doing_me74/ doing_me74

    That picture looks funny like hell.All gay people aint morally corrupt just like all straight people aint morally fair.

  • http://myspot4news.com/current-events/yacht-charters-top-places-to-have-a-boating-holiday-in-the-u-s-a/ Yacht Charters: Top Places To Have A Boating Holiday In The U.S.A. | Current Events: mySpot4news.com

    [...] First Same-Sex Weddings Take Place In D.C. | News One [...]

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/headraider/ headraider

    @ smittytva: I two have trouble watching two men kiss, but my question to you, because you seem to be a religeous person is, which is worse, a married man with children having an adulterous affair, or two gay men committing a homosexual act?

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/masculine31/ masculine31

    OMG…to each its own…

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/WezB37/ WezB37

    No offense, but this just doesn’t sit well with me.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/soveu34/ soveu34

    Who cares anyone seen the 133 mil lotto winner in Long Beach yet let me know lmaoooooooooooo

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/soveu34/ soveu34

    Note to be person below me the who care was for newsones whose doing a shatty job reporting all the negative shat they can about blacks

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Black_Queen09/ Black_Queen09

    “headraider THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION… TWO GAY MEN COMMITTING A HOMOSEXUAL ACT IS WORST…
    FIRST OF ALL I AM OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD… SO DON’T GO TRYING TO LABEL ME… BECAUSE I DON’T EXCEPT MAN MADE LABELS AT ALL…

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Radar-Dreamer/ Radar-Dreamer

    This entire idea or practice of same-sex marriages is dispicable and deplorable in every sense of the word.For those who say “to each its own” let me tell you that we are a society and the actions and practices of one person or group impacts the entire society at large.Same sex marriages in particular undermines the “family” and its significance as well as function in our nation.when the family structure man-woman becomes void, we are on the eve of destruction.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/mayhem187/ mayhem187

    YAY, NOW I CAN GET MARRIED, LOL

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Arundhati/ Arundhati

    Congratulations to ALL the couples that got married on Tuesday! To put in legal doc**ents what they already knew to be true , in their hearts. LOVE is LOVE. Not to put any pressure on her, but I’m still waiting for my partner to “pop the question”. To those that say that NewsOne only prints negative stories, apparently didn’t bother to read the story on the inner city charter school, in which ALL the kids graduated and ALL are going to college!. I agree, that sometimes it seems that most of the stories are fluff. But give credit when its due.

    To the haters:
    “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

    from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/doing_me74/ doing_me74

    All this crap about gays affecting everybody an families that’s B.S. If you aint gay or lesbian it shouldn’t matter an all this God talk is crap too because at the end of the day you want to control the next person life for every person that think homosexuality is wrong the same for ya.If your not gay an your kids is not they aint going to be affected remember we were kids we could of been affected by alot of stuff but some of us didn’t fall into it.Society aint going to destruction that’s B.S.An its funny people want to talk all this God crap worried about how other people live that’s stupid.people still worry about how another person live ya people aint satisfied about shyt.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/producer6tray/ producer6tray

    Just another story of non importance to the participants of a life style chosen to live. If this how these folks want to live then I and no other person will stand in your way, more power 2 ya. That being said this still should not be compared to the struggles of African Americans or called a civil rights issue,due to being based predominantly on who you sleep with, and that actually is the only difference. Plus I will leave the judging to the only true. It’s not my of living, so I will just stay true to that.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/producer6tray/ producer6tray

    Just another story of non importance to the participants of a life style chosen to live. If this how these folks want to live then I and no other person will stand in your way, more power 2 ya. That being said this still should not be compared to the struggles of African Americans or called a civil rights issue,due to being based predominantly on who you sleep with, and that actually is the only difference. Plus I will leave the judging to the only true judge. It’s not my way of living, so I will just stay true to that

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/headraider/ headraider

    @ Blackqueen:

    From the biblical perspective they are both wrong, but I would like to know from you, why you say the gay men are worse? Who told you that, where did you learn that? In the married man’s situation, there are multiple innocent victims, the man’s wife, children, and possibly the woman he’s committing the adultery with, has a husband and children who are now innocent victims.

    Although I don’t agree with it, in the gay situation, two single gay men have no innocent victims, only their own potential mistreatment of their bodies and each other. Yet you say the gay act is worse. This is the hypocrisy that plagues the Christian moral position. Sins that we commit are either ok or not that bad, but sins that others commit are against God and are going to destroy civilization. You have to unlearn the lies, and realize God is no respector of persons and surely no respector of sins, homosexual or otherwise.

    I’m a sinner, and before I can judge another man’s sin, I have to first deal with my own. Instead of casting my stone, I say love gay people as people, and show them compassion, maybe they would be willing to listen to you if they didn’t see hypocritical condemnation. Jesus saved sinners by showing compassion, but those self-righteous Pharisees he condemned, because all they did was go around fronting and faking about how holy they were, and judging everybody else.

    Sister Queen, don’t be fooled by these misguided hypocritical tv and wannabee tv preachers, look to the Word for your knowledge. I believe you are a child of God, but let the fruits of that be evident.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/NappyBoy25/ NappyBoy25

    yet WE should blame rappers and their music for the s**t that goes on today

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/corneilusgreen/ corneilusgreen

    Gay Marriage should be outlawed in the United States, Every LGBT person will have their day of reckoning and they will not like it. Thank God for traditional marriage

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/sbufford/ sbufford

    they may call them self marry under the state but not under gods law a men and a woman at one time black and white could not marry

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