First Gay marriage at West Point

[4a6c1]

West Point chapel hosts its first same-sex wedding

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Cadet Chapel, the landmark Gothic church that is a center for spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, hosted its first same-sex wedding Saturday.

Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain.

The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 and had long hoped to formally tie the knot. The way was cleared last year, when New York legalized same-sex marriage and President Barack Obama lifted the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.

The brides both live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.

"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton told The Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday.

Cadet Chapel was a more-than-adequate second choice, she said.

"It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer," Fulton said, referring to the invocation that says, "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won."

The ceremony was the second same-sex wedding at West Point. Last weekend, two of Fulton's friends, a young lieutenant and her partner, were married in another campus landmark, the small Old Cadet Chapel in West Point's cemetery.

Fulton has campaigned against the ban on gays in the military as a member of two groups representing gay and lesbian servicemen and servicewomen. She graduated from West Point in 1980, a member of the first class to include women.

She served with the Army Signal Corps in Germany and rose to the rank of captain, but left the service in 1986 partly because she wanted to be open about her sexual orientation. Obama appointed her last year to the U.S. Military Academy's Board of Visitors.

Fulton said the only hassle involved in arranging her ceremony came when she was initially told that none of West Point's chaplains was authorized by his or her denomination to perform same-sex weddings.

Luckily, Fulton said, they were able to call on a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith. He is the senior Army chaplain at Dover Air Force Base, where he presides over the solemn ceremonies held when the bodies of soldiers killed in action overseas return to U.S. soil.

The couple added other military trappings to their wedding, including a tradition called the saber arch, where officers or cadets hold their swords aloft over the newlyweds as they emerge from the church.

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http://news.yahoo.com/west-point-cha...185326592.html

Awesome!

[Kastrel]

Nice! Glad to see this.

[Tgo01]

Are they trying to cause an earthquake?!

[4a6c1]

Are they trying to cause an earthquake?!

Sandy missed West Point apparently.

[Sad American]

Just out of curiosity, when did homosexuality become a celebrated culture instead of just a sexual act or preference?

[Parkbandit]

Just out of curiosity, when did homosexuality become a celebrated culture instead of just a sexual act or preference?

When someone figured out how to make a political voting block out of another segment of our population.

[Sad American]

When someone figured out how to make a political voting block out of another segment of our population.

I think there is quite a bit more to it than just that, but I get your point. I think a recent survey showed that only around 3% of the population identified themselves as being 'gay.' I think this also included bi-sexual, transgender, etc. It's just interesting that much of the news revolves around this topic when it is such a minority.

[msconstrew]

I think there is quite a bit more to it than just that, but I get your point. I think a recent survey showed that only around 3% of the population identified themselves as being 'gay.' I think this also included bi-sexual, transgender, etc. It's just interesting that much of the news revolves around this topic when it is such a minority.

It's because they are a minority that so much of the news is dedicated to this issue. It's an equality issue and a civil rights issue (on the one hand) and a religious issue (on the other hand). Anything that encompasses those two larger categories is going to receive a lot of attention, and deservedly so.

I took a look and, according to Wikipedia, African Americans made up approximately 10% of th total US population at the time of the Civil Rights movement. So, quite a minority (though not as low as 3%), and I doubt you'd ask what all the fuss is about regarding issues like miscegenation.

[Sad American]

It's because they are a minority that so much of the news is dedicated to this issue. It's an equality issue and a civil rights issue (on the one hand) and a religious issue (on the other hand). Anything that encompasses those two larger categories is going to receive a lot of attention, and deservedly so.

Many black people have a problem with the civil rights movement being equated to the gay rights movement.

You have a point though about why it is a hot button issue. What are homosexuals trying to achieve? Is it simply marriage equality or is it having a wide acceptance in the culture of homosexual activity? To many people homosexuality is unacceptable, as they view it to being an affront to nature and the intention of God. Homosexuals are certainly not to be second class citizens or discriminated against as blacks were in the previous century. The free speech of those who do not believe in that particular lifestyle should not be inhibited either.

[Gweneivia]

I thought my marriage felt a little rocky on Saturday. This explains so much!