45 minutes after midnight, six gay couples began exchanging their vows at the first possible moment on the 30th florr of the Sheraton Waikiki, Chad Blair of Civil Beat reports:
The newlyweds are Donna Gedge and Monica Montgomery (together for 35 years and counting), Paul Perry and Gary Bradley (11 years), Saralyn and Isajah Morales (four years), Shaun Campbell and Tony Singh (five years), Richard J. Rosehill and Shawna P. Okami (32 years) and Keola Akana and Ethan Wung (six years). Each couple had their own officiant.
"We have lived our lives as first-class citizens who are law-abiding, taxpaying, and contributing members of the community," said Gedge and Montgomery in a prepared statement. "Yet we are legally recognized as second-class citizens as we do not have Federal rights. Getting married means that we will have the first-class legal status as well as the rights and benefits that only marriage will afford us."
(image pf bentley civil beat)
