Weddings

The judge who legalised equal marriage in Massachusetts in 2003, the first US state to do so, has said that she is thanked by strangers at least once a week. Margaret Marshall, originally from South Africa, was the first woman and first immigrant to become chief justice of the Massachusetts supreme judicial court in its 328-year history. In 2003 she wrote the 4 – 3 majority opinion in the Goodridge v. Deptartment of Public Health, which legalised same-sex marriage in the state. The landmark case was brought by GLBTQ Legal...

Actress and screenwriter Lena Waithe has announced that she has split from her wife Alana Mayo just two months after they tied the knot. Waithe and Mayo confirmed the news in a joint statement released to PEOPLE. “After careful thought and consideration, we have decided to part ways,” they said. “We have nothing but support for one another and ask that you respect our privacy during this time.” Lena Waithe and Alana Mayo married in a secret ceremony in November 2019. The couple wed in November in a secret, low-key...

DUP leader Arlene Foster has been moaning – yet again – about how same-sex marriage and abortion were “imposed” on Northern Ireland by Westminster. Same-sex marriage finally became legal in Northern Ireland on January 12 2020, with the first same-sex weddings expected to take place in the territory on Valentine’s Day. Needless to say, Foster is unhappy about this development. Arlene Foster wants Northern Ireland to have its ‘own voice heard’ – but this conflicts with her desire for full alignment with rest of UK. Speaking on Peston on ITV,...

A lesbian couple in South Africa are “heartbroken” after the Christian owners of a wedding venue refused to hold their ceremony because of “personal beliefs”. Sasha-Lee Heekes, 24, and Megan Watling, 25, had been together for more than seven years when they got engaged over Christmas. Soon after, they sent an email to the Beloftebos Wedding Venue in Stanford, Cape Town, enquiring about holding their wedding ceremony there. The couple said they were “heartbroken” and “disheartened” to receive a rejection back from Coia de Villiers, the owner of Beloftebos. “Based on...

A gay couple in Cyprus have gotten married while behind bars after they met during a bingo game in prison. Kevork Tontian and Wemson Gabral da Costa have become the second same-sex couple to get married in a European Union prison. Tontian, who is Cypriot, had such strong feelings for his Brazilian partner that he deliberately broke the law again after his release so they could be reunited. Gay man Kevork Tontian twice got himself back in prison so he could be reunited with his partner. The following year, Tontian...

An Irish woman has opened up about the pain of discovering that her husband of 20 years was gay. Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline, the woman – who only gave her first name, Mary – said she thought she was “happily married” until she discovered her husband’s sexuality. “He was a good, decent, kind man. But he was living a lie,” she revealed. “I found out by accident and in that second I knew that my marriage was over. She continued: “I loved him. Love doesn’t die easily, it...

Call off the search parties: we have found the gay ally and hero we need in 2020, only 15 days into this new decade. At one of those big, dramatic family weddings, a particularly difficult aunt went round causing trouble. The maid of honour at the wedding spent her time following the aunt around, “putting out fires” that the aunt had started. Eventually, though, the aunt crossed the line – she made her way to the best friend of the woman getting married, a gay man who was there with...