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Couples gather for gay rights
Event at City Hall plaza features symbolic mass marriage ceremony
By Reggie Ugwu
"Mother Nature is behind us," said Owen Egerton, founder of The Right to Marry, a local gay-rights group. Egerton emceed the event, which consisted of a mass wedding ceremony for both gay and straight couples opposed to legal restrictions on same-sex marriage. Fellow organizations Atticus Circle and Equality Texas co-sponsored the ceremony and Better Batter Bakery donated a giant cake. About 40 couples celebrated their nuptials on the plaza with the Rev. Mary Wilson of Cedar Park presiding. Although their union will not be recognized by the State of Texas, participants at the ceremony were not deterred from declaring their vows before God and man. "We gather today, because we believe that God wants us to be together in committed relationships," Wilson said. In 2005, Texans voted to amend the state constitution to outlaw marriages between same-sex couples. Currently, Massachusetts is the only state in the union where gay couples can be legally married. New England neighbors Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut offer state recognized civil unions. Austin Community College student Heidi Vance told the story of how she and her partner experienced a brief period of government-sanctioned matrimony. "We lived in California for a while, where we were able to have a domestic partnership that gave us some of the rights of marriage, but here in Texas, we don't have any of the rights of marriage," she said. Vance said she and her partner Alison Little have been together in a loving, committed relationship for six years. The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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