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AP photo
John Burke, left, and his partner Shel Goldstein, kiss as they leave Town Hall in Provincetown, Mass., today after filing their intentions to marry. Same-sex couples from around the country have gone to the center of the gay and lesbian lifestyle on Cape Cod to take advantage of their right to marry.
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PROVINCETOWN, Mass. -- John Burke walked down the steps of Provincetown
Town Hall this morning wearing black sunglasses and a bridal headpiece
decorated with hearts, flowers and the word "groom."
Burke and his partner, Shel Goldstein, both of Provincetown, had just
obtained their marriage license.
"We're making history, but we're doing something we should have been
able to do for years," Burke told a throng of press that included
representatives of The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, the BBC and
and a Japanese television station.
Gay couples began exchanging marriage vows around Massachusetts today,
marking the first time a state has granted gays and lesbians the right
to marry and making the United States one of four countries where
homosexuals can legally wed.
Burke and Goldstein, who plan to marry June 27, were among the 110
couples who had made appointments for marriage licenses today in this
outer Cape resort town known for its welcoming attitude toward gays.
Provincetown is among a handful of Massachusetts towns that have said
they would ignore Gov. Mitt Romney's directive that city and town
officials ask couples for proof of residency or intention to move to the
state before issuing marriage licenses.
And that helped Provincetown attract couples from Minnesota, New York
and Alabama today.
Chris McCary and John Sullivan, both of Anniston, Ala., flew into Boston
yesterday and left for Provincetown at 3 this morning. They reached the
steps of town hall at 5:30 a.m., were the first in line and the first
here to receive a same-sex marriage license.
"This was a sure bet," McCary said.
The couple, together for six years, didn't want to wait any longer to
make it official. They were heading for the district court in Orleans to
ask a judge to waive the normal three-day waiting period. They planned
to marry later today in Provincetown.
-- With Associated Press reports
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