PA Couples March to New Jersey to Marry

Written by Tom Coombe

It only takes a few minutes to walk from Easton into New Jersey.

But for three same-sex couples from Pennsylvania, crossing the bridge into New Jersey Thursday evening was like stepping into a time machine.

It took them to a place that—as of last month—gives them something their home state won't: the right to marry each other.

And so, in front of family, friends, supporters of same sex marriage and a handful of reporters and photographers, the three couples got married.

The ceremony was the culmination of a rally that had begun in Easton's Centre Square, where dozens of people had gathered to support marriage equality in Pennsylvania.

New Jersey legalized same-sex marriage Oct. 21. It's one of 15 states allowing gay couples to marry. 

"There are a number of people here who want to get married, and they have to go across the bridge to do it," said Easton City Councilwoman Elinor Warner. "That's absurd, and it shouldn't be."

After the speeches, the crowd marched down Northampton Street, shouting "What do we want? Equality!" and singing an updated version of "Going to the Chapel" ("Going to New Jersey.")

A lot of people driving by honked and cheered. A middle aged man in a pick-up truck yelled an obscenity and something about San Francisco.

It was a quick walk across the bridge. A block and a half, but also "a couple of years away," said Adrian Shanker, President of Equality PA.

The three couples—Marcus W Laurence and William M. Mauro; Jerry Schmidt and Chuck Woodbury; and Jennifer and Maryann Kelly—gathered with their family members as Rev. Beth Goudy Metropolitan Community Church of the Lehigh Valley performed the ceremony.

Laurence had self-written vows for Mauro: "You are the air of my breath, the quick of my blood, the light of my soul."

Then they exchanged rings, made their vows, and they were married.