♪ Rock & roll "Wedding March" ♪
Hello! 23! Yay!
(applause and cheering)
[NARRATOR] It's not every day when sheer love makes history.
But Sunday, December 9th, 2012, the words
"I love you" were echoed hundreds of times
by couples, young and old,
who are the first to marry under Washington
state's new law legalizing same-sex marriage.
It's exciting.
It's amazing.
It's warming.
I love it.
-It's legal.
-It's legal!
[ANNOUNCER] Everyone please join me in congratulating
Danielle and Robin Wyss.
(applause and cheering)
[NARRATOR] The official celebration for same-sex marriage
actually began three days earlier
at the King County administration building
when hundreds jammed to file
for a marriage license at the stroke of midnight
the previous Thursday.
-You gotta be here tonight.
This is important, you know, for people like us
that have been waiting
so long for it and a lot of other people
that have been waiting much longer than we have.
This is it. This is important to us.
And I think to, to society at large it's exciting.
-You can have a commitment ceremony,
but legally it means nothing.
And now marriage is legal and it means something.
And it means more than just, yeah, we live together.
It means that
we've actually made a commitment
and we've posted that commitment legally,
so the world knows it.
[NARRATOR] After the required three-day waiting period for marriage,
Seattle's City Hall opened its doors
on a drizzly Sunday morning for the first couples to wed.
Within minutes, it was a love fest and media frenzy.
[MAYOR MIKE McGINN] Love is powerful.
And what we're saying here in Seattle is that everybody
should have a civil right to marry the partner
of their choice.
[COUNCILMEMBER SALLY CLARK I actually didn't know whether
Washington voters would be able to take this step,
and I'm incredibly inspired and gratified by the action
that voters took and that's a pretty amazing thing.
So it's it's it's a very moving day.
-Congratulations.
-Thank you so much, Jerry.
-Congratulations.
-Glad to meet you Peter.
♪♪
[NARRATOR] Sixteen judges volunteered their time
at wedding stations throughout the lobby at City Hall.
[JUDGE] And join my life to yours.
-Every day, I look forward to your smile.
I choose you and will continue to day after day.
-Today I proclaim my love for you
and announce it to the world.
I vow to keep that love alive,
even though there are those who believe our love is wrong.
I will never believe them.
[NARRATOR] The ceremonies were short, sweet, and they all ended
the same way.
[JUDGE] By the powers invested in me under the laws of the state
of Washington, I now pronounce you married.
You may kiss.
(applause and cheering)
[NARRATOR] If there was one recurring sentiment expressed,
it was how long couples have been waiting for this day
to arrive.
-We've been together 12 years.
-We've waited 16 years.
-Five years.
-I never thought this was ever
going to happen in my lifetime.
-We've been together
for 34 years and we we've gone through a lot.
And it's about time that, you know, it happened.
I just didn't think it was going to happen.
So this is wonderful.
[NARRATOR] Dan Savage, outspoken columnist and gay rights
advocate, made his long-term relationship official before
hundreds of supporters.
[DAN SAVAGE] I've been waiting 18 years to have our love
and commitment recognized, validated, supported
in the same way that any other couple's
love and commitment is recognized, validated,
and supported by the wider culture.
We've reached a tipping point.
To recognize that our love is equal to anyone else's love
and deserves the same protection and support and
validation and recognition.
[ANNOUNCER] Jen Gilleran and Erica Carlson.
[NARRATOR] That Sunday,
138 couples said "I do" at Seattle City Hall.
Dozens more joined in same-sex matrimony
at other locations around town.
And by the end of the day, same-sex marriage made history
in the state of Washington and across the entire country.
-The happiest... -happiest day.
-...happiest day of my life. I never thought I would see this.
♪ Rock & roll "Wedding March" ♪