Posted on 08/03/2014 3:50:32 PM PDT by lightman
Couples marry, hundreds gather at Equality Fest in York
The inaugural event, held at the city's Cherry lane, was a celebration of equality for all, its organizers said
By Ted Czech
tczech@ydr.com @TedCzechYDR on Twitter
Updated: 08/03/2014 05:50:22 PM EDT
Carey and Michele Jenkins clasped hands, gazed in each other's teary eyes, and whispered things to each other, as they became legally married at York's first-ever Equality Fest on Sunday.
The Jenkinses, along with five more lesbian couples, were married by York Mayor Kim Bracey before several hundred who attended the event.
After Bracey married the couples, the crowd erupted in cheers.
"This just happened, here in York!" said co-emcee Sully Pinos, state Rep. Kevin Schreiber's chief-of-staff.
The event marked recent victories for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community and its proponents. In May, a federal judge overturned the state's ban on gay marriage. York City Councilman David Satterlee, 48, and his partner of 13 years, Will Guntrum, 44, were the first local gay couple to receive a York County marriage license.
"Marriage is now open to everyone gay, lesbian, heterosexual all citizens of the commonwealth can live, love and create a family here in York," said Carla Christopher, the event's co-chair, who married partner T.L. Waid at the event.
The event drew notable politicians like Bracey, state reps. Schreiber and Brian Sims, gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf's wife, Frances Wolf, District Judge Joel Toluba and York City Councilman Michael Helfrich.
For the Jenkinses, it was not only a statement of their love, but of their perseverance.
"It's been a long run; we've been together 12 years," Carey Jenkins said.
Michele Jenkins said that they planned their wedding three times, and all three times they had to cancel, largely due to Carey Jenkins' health challenges.
"I have piece of mind knowing that whatever happens to me, our family will be okay," Carey Jenkins said. Their family includes daughters Desirae Hill and Nicole Auriemma.
Partners Amy Lippert, 55 and Sue Harmon, 57, both said they felt "happy" after the ceremony. The two have been together for 23 years, they said.
About 20 years ago, they bought rings, with the hope that someday they could use them in a legal wedding celebration.
"All you could do is just pretend ... but now it's real," Lippert said.
Melissa and Eric Grove were among three heterosexual couples who renewed their vows at the ceremony.
Melissa Grove, who dressed as a faery, said, "Eric and I both believe in love and that everyone should have the right to love who they want. We love love."
The event attracted hundreds of patrons, including girlfriend and boyfriend Sarah Young, 24, and Chris Kauffman, 25. The two wore shirts that read, "gay? fine by me."
Young, a graduate of York College, and Kauffman, a current student there, said a group at the school, Lambda, sold the shirts as a fundraiser to promote LGBT acceptance. Funds were then given to a local food bank, they said.
"I'm bisexual, so I'm a part of the community," Young said.
"And I'm an ally," Kauffman said.
Contact Ted Czech at 717-771-2033.
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea"
Mark 9:42
Ping.
FYI the Mayor, the State Representative, and the Council members are all donks.
Naturally.
Yeah right, and today my hammer married a nail and my shovel married a hole in the ground. And don't anyone dare tell me that those weren't marriages!
Thank God for the real men who founded this country,
and for the real men who continue to sustain it
Please join the 300 by donating $100
Surprised the camera didn’t break when it snapped those she-males...good grief.
My heart breaks for those dear little girls who will be raised to hate men and boys and see their two mommies’ “lifestyle” as normal.
Yuckfest in York....
Hot dogs and tacos for everybody!!!!!
“All you could do is just pretend ... but now it’s real,” Lippert said.
Yeah, still just pretend. Pathetic and disgusting, but still just pretend.
So sick there were kids there. One day this will all change. By force if necessary.
Libertinism, however the Marquis de Sade would be disappointed in the lack of glamour.
I know. It’s child abuse, plain and simple.
Genesis 1
English Standard Version (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The modern blasphemies will not go unpunished...and the desecration of the Lord's Day with such an “event” is among them.
Lesbians: not like they are in the movies.
The silver lining in that “ceremony” is that they won’t reproduce.
Why do so many “lesbians” go out of their way to have a mannish appearance???
I’m not being as flippant as you think. I had a discussion with someone about “transgendered” people. And was told that you should accept someone’s “sexual identity” as they show themselves to the world, not worry about sex change operations and genitals.
Meaning, that if someone dresses as a woman, even if it looks like a man, accept that person as a woman.
But then, in the “lesbian” sphere, so many intentionally try to look like men. My eyes play tricks on me, because sometimes I have mistaken some beefy “lesbian” females for men at first glance.
So, if a “lesbian” is simply a woman who loves another woman, not a man, why do so many intentionally try to resemble men????
They are still pretending.
Mentally ill,every one of them. And the mayor is evil.
’ The event attracted hundreds of patrons, including girlfriend and boyfriend Sarah Young, 24, and Chris Kauffman, 25....
“I’m bisexual, so I’m a part of the community,” Young said.
“And I’m an ally,” Kauffman said. ‘
...”because sometimes,” he continued, “bonus!”
Seriously, they can’t call it marriage no matter how much they scream it. Not marriage, PERIOD.
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