A June 2014 Wedding
Monday night on KDHX I announced that my boyfriend and I got engaged last month. We didn’t plan to go to any of the 14 states, or Washington D.C., to get married. We wanted to get married in Missouri (where we live) or Illinois (his state of residence until this past February). We knew that meant a possible long engagement but we also knew there had been talk of the Illinois General Assembly approving a same-sex marriage bill most of this year. As late as a week or two ago it didn’t look like a vote would happen this year but 2014 looked promising.
Then suddenly, Tuesday morning, we hear the vote will happen. By the end of the day both the chambers passed the bill, sending it to the governor! To pass the measure the sponsor removed the paragraph making the law effective in 30 days. The law becomes effective on June 1, 2014.
Gov. Pat Quinn (D) said in a statement Tuesday that he would sign the bill into law, although he did not specify a date. The House, which had adjourned in May without passing a Senate bill legalizing same-sex marriage, approved the measure Tuesday by a vote of 61 to 54.
“Today the Illinois House put our state on the right side of history,” said Quinn, who campaigned for the measure, which is scheduled to take effect in June. (Washington Post)
So Tuesday night we set a date in June and started a wedding website. Yesterday I began the process of confirming the location. Today we’re going to city hall to register as Domestic Partners.
When I came out 30 years ago I didn’t think marriage would ever be an option…
— Steve Patterson
Congratulations to you and to your partner. And it’s good to see Illinois is finally taking the initiative to enact laws that guarantee domestic rights to gay and lesbian partners. Maybe Missouri will take notice and respond accordingly. My wife and I just returned from 8 days in Hamburg, Germany, where I was offered and accepted a job with my present employer to open an office to better serve our European customer base. I’ll leave STL in three weeks, and my wife and children will follow in December. In Germany, it is interesting to note that Europeans don’t rubberneck to gawk at G/L couples on the street, who walk hand-in-hand and naturally blend into the crowds, where considerable public affection is very openly shown on the downtown streets, in restaurants, theaters and other public areas–still without fanfare. Although Germany doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage (yet), since the turn of the century s/s registered partnerships have been legal, offering the same rights as opposite-sex couples have. Let’s hope that in the mid-West the public’s genuine acceptance will soon follow the law’s enactment.
Get a pre-nup
Ahhh . . . . a true romantic!
To protect my vast disability income? He’s the one who’ll see his income double & triple over the next 20-25 years.
Great news Steve. The USA really has been slow on the uptake with same sex marriage. It enrages me that my G/L friends can’t get married in Missouriso I can only imagine how it must feel to be on the business end.
Congrats!
Mazel tov, Steve. Funny thing, my wife’s childhood friend and his fiance got married last week in his home state of Delaware, then had a little get-together in Dallas, where they live.
Congratulations! This guy sounds like he’s really something for you to propose to him…I know you’ll be happy together.
From: An Alligator in St Louis 😉
Thanks, he’s really special.