Seattle City Hall to Become Gay Wedding Chapel as Couples Begin Marrying on December 9
Gay couples can begin marrying in Washington state beginning on December 9 and Dan Savage offers up the news that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is helping The Stranger turn City Hall's lobby into a giant wedding chapel:
Same-sex couples can start applying for marriage licenses in Washington state starting on December 6, and—because there's a three-day waiting period to get married here—same-sex couples will start getting legally married in Washington on Sunday, December 9. (Eli Sanders runs you through the logistical details here.)
Mayor Mike McGinn is opening Seattle City Hall's gorgeous lobby to all couples who want to marry on December 9. Judges have volunteered to perform weddings for free and the Stranger is working with Jennifer Zeyl and Alicia Berger and other local scenic artists to create four tasteful pop-up wedding chapels in the lobby of City Hall. The doors at City Hall will open at 11 AM on December 9 and any couple who comes with their paperwork will be able to get married at City Hall between noon and 5 PM.
The Stranger is kicking in $2000 to help pay for materials and Stranger staff members—many of whom worked phone banks for R-74—are volunteering their time to help organize the event.
Awesome!
Posted by: JCF | Nov 17, 2012 5:43:52 AM
My partner and I will be there to get hitched. We have been waiting for our great state of Washington to vote for marriage equality and they didn't let us down.
Posted by: Peter | Nov 17, 2012 12:35:59 PM
This is awesome! I'm glad to hear Dan Savage and The Stranger are helping out, designing pop-up wedding chapels.
And congratulations, Peter! I hope your day and your marriage are all you want them to be.
Posted by: Caliban | Nov 17, 2012 12:43:30 PM
I'm glad that Dan Savage has a chance to do something for the gay rights cause that is positive - instead of the usual pointless attention-seeking stunts like "spreading Santorum" and the lectures to High school kids about why the Bible isn't true. Gay should conjure up images of happy couples (in suits) taking vows, not flamboyant queens at parades trying to entertain people with eccentricity. No offense to any out there who are the flamboyant type, but its a question of giving the gay community the right image to make effective change possible. Gay weddings, once straight people get over the initial shock of seeing them, really don't look all that different from straight weddings.
Posted by: Mary | Nov 17, 2012 5:50:43 PM
Oh, forgot! Cognrats to you Peter. I hope you and your husband will be happy.
Posted by: Mary | Nov 17, 2012 5:52:32 PM
MARY -" Gay should conjure up images of happy couples (in suits) taking vows, not flamboyant queens at parades trying to entertain people with eccentricity. No offense to any out there who are the flamboyant type,..."
Huh? You just offended them, and it can't be helped, nor should it be. The acculturated fem showoffs are an embarrassement to most of us. The normal gay mans' burden. Imagine having a civil rights parade that includes a pimpy looking black man (gold chains etc) sauntering down the street with chicken drumsticks sticking up like spines in his hair and a white blond under each arm feeding him watermelon?
Posted by: UFFDA | Nov 17, 2012 6:57:12 PM
Uffda, thanks for the moral support. You're the best (except when you "eyeroll" me!) But I felt it was necessary to put this claimer on my statement. The feminine and/or flamboyant types have a right to their identity and to support from the rest of the LGBT community. So I didn't want them to think I was saying they should be shunned or belittled, only that theirs is not the image that helps gain acceptance at this time. When tolerance is more widespread and the gay marriage issue a done deal, there will be more room for a variety of gay images to be presented to the public. But I'm still a visitor here. I care about not offending people unnecessarily because I can always be told (and rightfully, too) - "I may be 'flamboyant', but as a member of the LGBT community Towleroad belong more to me than it does to you."
I fear our "Little Canadian" will be saying something like this pretty soon!
Posted by: Mary | Nov 17, 2012 7:12:50 PM
Of course Mary and Uffda crawled into this story like rats, only to vomit their filth all over the floor. As per usual.
Posted by: Lance | Nov 18, 2012 1:39:40 AM
Seattle city hall is a nice building, pretty new. Unlike Boston City Hall, which is like something Mussolini would have drooled over.
Posted by: ratbastard | Nov 18, 2012 11:59:56 AM
Mary your idea of acceptance is to accept "straight washed" gays. For us to now discriminate against a sub group of gays. You're hardly for equality. You're just preaching for another sub group of gays to be discriminated. And I absolutely believe you and UFFDA are the same poster. Your history and writing style, and seeing how you convenientally have exchanges with one another tells me you are the same bigoted troll.
Fem gays are here to stay. They won't be going anywhere. Get used to it.
Posted by: Steve-ATL | Nov 18, 2012 6:27:43 PM
Steve, I never said that fem gays should be subjected to discrimination. For the record, I contributed to Marriage Equality, USA, Freedom to Marry, The Ali Forney Center, and joined the Log Cabin Republicans. If that's not being pro-equality I don't know what is. And actually, my writing style if not like Uffda's at all. He tends to respond to my posts because he's impressed that I became a marriage equality supporter after being so strongly against it for so long. He and Nullnaught give me credit for this. Others like Little Kiwi, TJ, and Andrew still dislike me for my prior beliefs. To each his own.
Posted by: Mary | Nov 18, 2012 11:59:41 PM