Ken Brown and Jon-Paul Rippetoe haven't worked out all the details of their fall wedding, but they do know a few things: They will hold their ceremony on a mountainside in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Rippetoe's sister, who will be deputized for the day by the county, will officiate. They will write their own vows separately and read them during the ceremony.
They also know that when they return to Maryland from California, their marriage license will not carry any legal weight. But that is not stopping them from joining a wave of gay and lesbian couples from around the nation who are California-bound in the wake of a May ruling by that state's Supreme Court giving same-sex couples the right to marry.
Because the same-sex marriages commenced Monday evening, hundreds of people have gotten hitched amid a deluge of festivities and some protests.
"Our expectations, honestly, are pretty low. We understand that Maryland doesn't recognize our marriage rights," said Rippetoe, 36. "I think you can describe it as a field that has been through a drought and there's been a little rainstorm. While it's not enough to end the drought, it still feels good. There is somebody, somewhere in our government system saying, 'I recognize this community and I recognize this relationship.' I think it will feel nice to be a part of that."
It's unclear how many Maryland same-sex couples are heading to California to marry - California doesn't track marriage applications by state and doesn't plan to break out the number of same-sex marriages when overall figures are reported in August. But some area couples are making travel plans to take advantage of the chance to publicly declare their commitment, to be legally recognized in some places and to show support for legalization.
Only two states - New York and Massachusetts, which already permits same-sex unions but prohibits out-of-state residents from marrying there - have made it clear they will recognize the California marriages of same-sex couples, said Kate Kendell, the executive director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights. A handful of other states with significant domestic partner protections or that allow civil unions - including Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut, where a marriage case is pending before its high court - may also honor the marriages, she said.
