Delaware Welcomes First Civil Unions

-- More than 400 people, including a U.S. senator, witnessed the first same-sex civil union in Delaware on New Year's Day.

Lawyers Lisa Goodman and Drewry Fennell were joined in the union by the Rev. Patricia Downing, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wilmington, where the Sunday afternoon ceremony took place.

Goodman and Fennell have been partners for 14 years. Goodman is a lawyer who led the advocacy group Equality Delaware's fight for the civil union law. Fennell heads the state Criminal Justice Council and formerly led the ACLU's Delaware chapter.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., delivered the sermon and Lt. Gov. Matt Denns read scripture.

"We felt so lifted up by everyone who was there," Goodman said by phone as she and Fennell were riding to their home after the ceremony and reception.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed the law authorizing civil unions in May. Delaware is one of about a dozen states that allow either civil unions or marriages for same-sex couples.

Neighboring Maryland is preparing for a renewed fight over a same-sex marriage proposal, with Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley promising his full support for the measure in the coming legislative session.

In Delaware, observers of the Sunday ceremony said it went off without a hitch.

"Everything went perfect, I couldn't be happier, everything was flawless," said Ken Boulden Jr., the New Castle County Clerk of the Peace. Boulden opened his office on Sunday so that Goodman and Fennell and seven other couples could get their licenses on the first day they were available. Boulden was a guest at the Goodman-Fennell ceremony.

Calling the event a "lovefest," Boulden said the good weather meant even heaven was smiling down upon the couple.

"It was a great way to begin the new year," he said.

Downing said she has known Goodman and Fennell for about four years and that the couple crafted a service to reflect their relationship. "I'm full of pride and joy and extremely happy and excited that this could happen in Delaware," Downing said.

The couple had a choir that performed hymns and Christmas carols, one in Spanish, because the church has a Spanish-speaking congregation.

Goodman said that when the congregation gave the couple a standing ovation after the union was pronounced, "I was afraid to turn around because I was afraid I might cry."

Comments

[talkstocoyotes]

09:32 AM on 01/04/2012

Next stop: legal marriage.

[Rachelwordsmith]

12:36 PM on 01/03/2012

I'm queer on many levels and I oppose all forms of marriage for str8 or gay people. Why should married people have special rights that unmarried do not have? The real solution is to get the government out of marriage. Marriage has always been a religious institution until the a governments made it into a social contract starting about 150 years ago. So let anyone marry as their institution allows. If people want a social contract then write one. The government should only get involved when a contract is in dispute.

[talkstocoyotes]

09:33 AM on 01/04/2012

Try running for public office and make that your platform. People will flock to the message like flies to vinegar.

[Rachelwordsmith]

11:55 AM on 01/04/2012

Good sarcasm. So true, the taste of truth is sour. People rather believe a thing than know a thing. Reality is unpopular among the pliable sheep.

[Angel1999]

10:17 AM on 01/04/2012

Certainly that is a position that is at least fair, but until such time as civil governments get out of the marriage business they are constitutionally required to offer it to all consenting adults.

Having said that, your statements about marriage history are exactly backwards. Marriage was a civil institution until the early middle ages (about the 12th century), when the Catholic church began blessing such unions in the rite of Holy Matrimony.

In regard to your last point, civil marriage is a social contract that we as a people have written because we want one. The government, as one of its functions, provides backing for such contracts.

[Rachelwordsmith]

11:51 AM on 01/04/2012

Look wider and deeper at history. Western Civ isn't the be all. What came first religion or government? trick question: they are the same thing- both are control modalities to manipulate the masses and often used concurrently. (Roman empire is a good example) Marriage, as it stands, is a social control device. So I stand corrected- either institution should not be regulating love contracts.

[darlenebonny]

09:16 AM on 01/03/2012

This is good for the people of Delaware. Little by little, step by step, we will win our full rights. It's not going to happen over night.

[Rachelwordsmith]

12:39 PM on 01/03/2012

you are winning the right to be just like the rest of the dysfunctional people in the world. I rather not participate in social constructivism designed to control the masses.

[darlenebonny]

08:57 AM on 01/04/2012

Gee, you don't have too. You can go to your room and eat your lunch all by yourself, if that will make you happy.

[TBJ]

02:08 PM on 01/04/2012

Then don't.

If you're truly happy, why are you ranting about people being controlled, a broken system, how you're better because you go against the current?

Live your life how you want to live it. That's no reason why people shouldn't want the rights and benefits offered by a civil marriage.

[glockman]

08:05 AM on 01/03/2012

Civil unions are nothing more than an affront and insult to civil liberty.

Gays/lesbians will continue to be treated as second class citizens until they receive full marriage rights.

[klwarner]

03:16 AM on 01/03/2012

Awesome! Congratulations to the folks who finally got their rights as citizens validated. If we can't all exercise the same freedoms then what kind of America is this really?

[mericart]

01:20 AM on 01/03/2012

This is a great development, one more step toward equality. I'm happy for the people whose partnership got recognized.

[Valerie Keefe]

12:31 AM on 01/03/2012

Good for you Delaware, first you guaranteed people the right to employment, housing, and access to public accommodations regardless of sexual orientation and gender identi-
.

wait, you didn't do that? You still haven't got an inclusive Non-Discrimination Act and civil unions?

Wow, Delaware, I didn't think you were as bad as *New York*.

[rickhfx]

12:28 AM on 01/03/2012

Heterosexuals have made a mockery of marriage. Clearly its heterosexuals that should not be allowed to marry.

[ramp613]

10:30 AM on 01/03/2012

Kim Kardashian did more to harm hetero marriage than ANY LGBT couple could ever do.

[rickhfx]

12:50 PM on 01/03/2012

Katy Perry, Russell Brand Divorce are just one of millions if not billions of str8 couples that are proof that str8s should not be allowed to marry.

[rickhfx]

12:24 AM on 01/03/2012

As a legally married same sex couple we believe , Civil Unions are not marriage. Canada has legal same sex MARRIAGE, we are pulling for Americans to some day have the same civil rights as us.

[Valerie Keefe]

12:34 AM on 01/03/2012

Well, that's great, but Canada, while it does have same-LEGAL-sex marriage, does not have trans-inclusive non-discrimination law and treats transphobia differently from homophobia for the purposes of unlawful speech.

Oh, and there's the complete paucity of informed consent clinics in Canada, the most reviled and blatantly cissexist trans health clinic in the Western World is likely CAMH, though maybe doing slightly better than Charing Cross.

Let's not be so smug about civil unions when we haven't granted basic rights to about a half-million Canadians.

[klwarner]

03:18 AM on 01/03/2012

I'm sorry to hear the struggles that you're enduring, but you cannot deny that the rights of americans to marry, like our heterosexual fellow citizens are allowed, are kind of mocked by this half-ash civil union song and dance.

[KAYLEE BURRIS]

04:30 PM on 01/03/2012

rick,i would have to agree civil unions are still not equal.
they are just that civil unions something to passify the masses so they still feel superior.

[lynjs]

12:01 AM on 01/03/2012

Discrimination is an ugly thing. It doesn't matter what form it is in, racial, gender, religious, or other. I just hope with these two states, that equality is closer for those whom want to live like the rest of us.
Congratulations and may your happiness be forever.

[Southrnbelle]

10:16 PM on 01/02/2012

Marvelous!

[DreamWeaver2nd]

10:09 PM on 01/02/2012

Good.

[Hooponopono]

08:47 PM on 01/02/2012

I'm really annoyed that HP gave all the credit to Delaware even though Hawaii started civil unions today as well.

[DreamWeaver2nd]

10:10 PM on 01/02/2012

Good for Delaware and Hawaii!
Finally. And let's keep it happening.

[dharmadhatuzoo]

06:12 AM on 01/03/2012

That's strange, too, because Hawai'i is considerably more glamorous than Delaware.

[I think I think]

07:39 PM on 01/02/2012

Would be better if actual marriages were allowed. But even this, .... one state more is one state better. Persistence folks, quiet determined persistence.

[greysells2]

08:04 PM on 01/02/2012

Keep chipping away at the problem and eventually the demographics will allow for full marital equality.

[lovingthismoment50]

11:32 PM on 01/02/2012

The people who say that it will never happen are so out of touch with reality.

[Hooponopono]

08:43 PM on 01/02/2012

It's 2 states more HP did not included the fact that civil unions begin today in Hawaii.

[ATLJunBug]

07:34 PM on 01/02/2012

Congratulation Delaware.