Memphis-area couples rush to be among first to wed
‘TENNESSEE IS FINALLY CATCHING UP WITH THE REST OF THE COUNTRY’
Outside the Shelby County Clerk’s office, on the lawn beneath a tree, Nancy Wiers and Laura Harris were married Friday. They joined hands around their daughter, 5-yearold Ari, who carried pink roses as loved ones smiled and cried. They repeated after officiant Elaine Blanchard — they took each other to have and hold, honor, treasure and to be at each other’s sides, laugh in the good times and comfort in times of struggle for all the days of their lives.
Blanchard pronounced them married, “woman and woman in love.”
Harris, 46, and Wiers, 64, were among the Shelby County couples celebrating a historic ruling Friday by the United States Supreme Court on marriage equality.
The justices ruled 5-4 that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize marriages between same-sex couples who were legally married out of state.
Harris and Wiers were wed in white and pink T-shirts and kissed each other as the crowd cheered. “It’s been 10 years in the making,” Wiers said.
At least 10 same-sex couples in Shelby County got licenses Friday, said Justin Smith, Shelby County chairman of the Tennessee Equality Project.
“I think it’s a great day for justice and love around Tennessee and the 13 other states that have been working to get marriage equality,” Smith said. “It’s been a long haul. We’ve been fighting for this for 20 years across the United States. Tennessee is finally catching up with the rest of the country and the rest of the world.”
The couples challenging state gay marriage bans included Ijpe DeKoe and Thom Kostura of Memphis. Tennessee passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
DeKoe, 36, a sergeant first class in the Army reserve, heard the news that they won the case as he was driving in New Jersey. His mom called and “then everyone called,” he said.
He said by phone that “this is a huge day” for him and his husband, Kostura, who is a 32-year-old artist, and for all Tennesseans.
He said the marriage decision is another opportunity for Tennessee to be a welcoming state and afford everyone the dignity of their marriage being recognized. He and Kostura were married in 2011 in New York.
“It’s going to make Tennessee that much more of an inclusive state to live and work in,” he said. “Especially as a military couple, we could be stationed anywhere in the country.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, saying, “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”
He wrote that the plaintiffs ask “for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”
“The Constitution grants them that right,” he wrote.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.
“But this court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us,” Roberts said.
Will Batts, 51, executive director of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center, was with his husband Curtis, 44, a pharmacist, when they got the news. They had a wedding in 1998 in front of family and friends in Nashville and got a license in Connecticut five years ago.
He said the decision is huge for people who have been waiting to get married and for people who have been married who didn’t think their marriages would be recognized in their lifetime.
“We will be treated just like every other couple,” he said.
In a Rose Garden statement, President Barack Obama said the ruling has “made our union a little more perfect.”
And speaking at an event in Memphis Friday, Gov. Bill Haslam said the state “will fully comply with the law.”
Shortly after the court’s decision was released, Memphis International Airport tweeted that “honeymoon season just got busier. We’re looking forward to seeing you here!”
However, in Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant issued a statement critical of the court, and Attorney General Jim Hood said marriages must wait until the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifts a hold on a Mississippi case.
Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines tweeted that “nothing happened in Washington today that real revival/spiritual awakening can’t fix. Pray for a Great Awakening in our day, in Jesus’ name!”
Meanwhile, the Rev. Andy Andrews of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral said he looks forward to the future with same-sex marriage. “The church has already prayerfully discerned this issue,” Andrews said. “We’ve been blessing same-sex couples for a number of years now.”
Outside the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center on Friday evening, about 150 people gathered and four couples were married. Flags waved, bubbles floated in the air and the bells at nearby First Congregational Church rang in celebration.
Floridia Jackson, 44, a Memphis minister who performed two weddings Friday, also can now legally marry her longtime partner, Treace Griffin.
“Love won,” she said.