Same-Sex Marriage - Washington State

On November 6th, voters approved Referendum 74 legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington.

Voters took to the streets in the Seattle neighborhood of Capital Hill celebrating until 3 a.m.

The next month the law went into effect. Hundreds of couples began lining up outside of the King County Recorder's Office on December 5th, 2012 to get their marriage licenses. As the clock counted down to midnight the air was electric with excitement.  

Many of the couples had been together for decades, often already joined in civil union ceremonies, but soon they would finally be able to say they were legally married.

Under the new Washington law, the couples had to wait three days after obtaining a marriage licenses to have the ceremony. The first weddings took place at the King County Courthouse at 12:01 by Judge Mary Yu. The first couple to be married was Sarah and Emily Cofer, a couple that been together for over ten years and have a 9 month old daughter.

Judge Yu married couples throughout the night until 7:00 a.m. that morning. One of the cutest moments came from the wedding of Andrew Heidke and Anthony Delos. Andrew’s mother, Cathy Peck, far away in Milwaukee, Wisconsin watched the wedding via FaceTime wiping away tears during the ceremony.

The sweetest wedding was of Jenelle Forde and Jodi Hyde who had two dozen friends and family form a circle to toast the newly weds.

There was the marriage of Stephanie Lyon and Margaret Ryan, which took place at 3:00 a.m. so they could be married as soon as Margaret finished work for the night. The couple met seven years ago when Margaret saved Stephanie from a burning building.

The night turned into morning and more weddings began at City Hall at 10 a.m. This was a true media circus with hundreds of videographers, photographers, and reporters running around the building trying to cover five weddings happening at the same time.

The City Hall building has a very long staircase that leads down to the street. Supporters of the law, family members, and media lined the stair way handing couples flowers as they walked down, chanting “we love you,” and “kiss! kiss! kiss!­­” to the newlyweds.