In downtown Delray Beach Monday night, same-sex couples who gathered to get hitched in a group wedding were greeted by balloons, flowers and dancing in the streets.
The doors of the South County Courthouse opened at 10:30 p.m. so marriage licenses could be processed before the ceremony. By then, dozens of couples were lined up outside, and a few started slow-dancing on the sidewalk after someone docked an iPod to a speaker.
Shortly after midnight, about 80 couples exchanged vows in a civil ceremony presided over by County Clerk Sharon Bock.
Newlywed Cristina Jimenez married her partner of nine years and says she was struck by the fact that their wedding day was Jan. 6 – the festival of the Epiphany.
“I grew up Catholic. So we always celebrated the Three Kings and the coming of the Magi and bringing gifts. And this is like a gift,” said Jimenez.
Seventy-five-year-old Sheldon Goldstein and his 66-year-old husband, John came to the ceremony wearing matching multi-colored lamé vests.
“They are the gay rainbow," said John. "I made them for our civil union in Vermont in 2001.”
The Goldsteins, who have been together for nearly 18 years, say they’ll honeymoon in Cocoa Beach where a friend of theirs is getting married over the weekend.
Meanwhile, courthouses in more conservative counties elsewhere in the state have chosen to stop conducting marriage ceremonies altogether to avoid marrying same-sex couples.
County Clerk Bock says she thinks eventually her counterparts in those counties will change their tune.
“I know that these are people who, in their heart, understand what the basis of our democracy is," said Bock. "And when they see the goodness that is brought by marriage, then I think that they’re going to perhaps, maybe not embrace it, but maybe not be so alienated by it.”
See all of our gay marriage coverage at http://wlrn.org/marriage-all
