David Bergeron (left) and Geraldo Sousa greet well-wishers following their marriage ceremony. (Photo by Stephen Koranda)Because of the standard waiting period in Kansas, Monday was the first day many same sex couples would be eligible to get married. KPR’s Stephen Koranda was at Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence for a ceremony and has this report.
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A couple hundred people gathered for the marriage of Geraldo Sousa and David Bergeron by Reverend Peter Luckey.
“This is the first same gender legal wedding to take place in the 160-year history of Plymouth Congregational Church,” says Luckey.
Luckey says he expects more ceremonies in the coming weeks, but not an immediate flood. It is a wedding, after all, and a lot of people will want to do some planning.
“They want to think about the reception hall, they want to think about what they’re going to wear, they want to make sure family can come in, and so plane tickets and reservations and that kind of thing. So yeah, most people are going to want to do some planning,” says Luckey.
Lawsuits over the Kansas ban on same sex marriage are currently before federal courts and the Kansas Supreme Court.
Some Kansas counties are now marrying same sex couples, others have denied licenses or are waiting for more word from the courts on what to do.