“Not Latino enough.”
Meet George’s mother, ... extremist. /sarc.
(no link)
Government officials learning Spanish to officiate at Hispanic weddings
Journal Gazette, The (Fort Wayne, IN) - Monday, September 16, 2002
Author: Paul Glader Washington Post
Removing a language barrier couldn’t erase the nuptial jitters for Andres Jimenez Moritz, who married a more relaxed and smiling Noelia Madueno Prado recently in the old Prince William County, Va., Courthouse.
The 21-year-old bridegroom’s fingers fidgeted nervously, and he shifted back and forth in his dark dress shoes as he and his young immigrant sweetheart exchanged vows and simple rings at the instruction of Gladys Zimmerman , a Spanish-speaking civil celebrant.
“Puede besar a la novia,” said Zimmerman, closing the five-minute ceremony with the traditional phrase in Spanish that allows the bride and groom to kiss.
(snip)
With Hispanic populations rising sharply, counties such as Prince William and Maryland’s Montgomery have hired Spanish-speaking civil celebrants like Zimmerman to perform weddings.
Immigrants in Loudoun, Va., and Maryland’s Prince George’s counties, however, must take a friend along to interpret or bluff through a ceremony with broken English and charades, an embarrassing experience for all parties.
David Mabie, Prince William’s clerk of courts, said he fumbled through ceremonies in that fashion in the late 1980s.
(snip)
Prince William’s Hispanic population grew from 10,000 in 1990 to 17,600 in 2000, and Mabie knew something had to change. So he hired Zimmerman from another department of the courts in 1995 and made her a deputy clerk and civil celebrant. Zimmerman, a native of Peru, performs as many as five Spanish-language ceremonies a day.
(snip)
Caption: Washington Post: Gladys Zimmerman , a deputy clerk and a native of Peru who performs marriages in Spanish, helps Andres Jimenez Mortiz and Noelia Madueno Prado through the ceremony at the old Prince William County Courthouse in Manassas , Va.
Thank so much for your posting of this news.
To bad the 7 blind men still cannot see the elephant!