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| Holding their Illinois marriage license, Vernita Gray, left, and Patricia Ewert smile at friends after they were married by Cook County Judge Patricia Logue, the first gay marriage in Illinois, at the couple's home Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in Chicago. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin on Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, ordered the Cook County clerk to issue an expedited marriage license to Gray and Ewert before the state's gay marriage law takes effect in June 2014, because Gray is terminally ill. |
CHICAGO (AP)
-- In a short ceremony inside their Chicago apartment, two beaming
brides made Illinois history Wednesday as they became the first gay
couple to wed under the state's new law legalizing same-sex marriage.
The
law approved last week doesn't go into effect until June, but one of
the women - Vernita Gray - is terminally ill with cancer, so she and her
partner of five years, Patricia Ewert, were granted an expedited
marriage license by a federal judge's order.
The
two made it official Wednesday in front of more than 20 friends at
their high-rise home on the city's North Side. A Cook County judge
officiated, and a close friend who deemed himself the "flower girl"
tossed rose petals and the couple kissed several times.
They were pronounced wife and wife.
"This
is the realization of a very long cherished dream for them both,"
Camilla Taylor, the head of the legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, which
helped represent the couple, said before the wedding day.
When
Illinois became the 16th state to legalize gay marriage earlier this
month, it was bittersweet for the couple, in their mid-60s. They feared
that Gray might not live until the law would allow them to wed. They
filed a lawsuit, and a federal judge allowed the two women, in their
mid-60s, to get an expedited marriage license.
"She
went from one day being as full of energy as she could be to being
completely bedridden," Ewert said of her partner's deterioration.
As for waiting until June, Ewert said: "It's a long time in the cancer world."
But
the mood was cheerful and festive Wednesday; Ewert wore leopard print
and Gray donned a dark leather jacket. They quick signed the papers
after the ceremony.
"It's a great day for
Vernita and Pat, and an historic day for Illinois, for a deserving and
loving couple to have the chance to be married on an expedited basis,"
John Knight, LGBT Project Director at the ACLU of Illinois, said in a
statement. "Their love and commitment to each other has been
demonstrated over time, and we're thrilled they didn't have to wait."
Their
legal battle could be just the beginning and may fuel efforts to change
the effective date of the law, which Gov. Pat Quinn signed last week.
There's legislation pending to allow the law to take effect immediately
and it could come up in late January when lawmakers gather in
Springfield.
Quinn, who helped Illinois legalize civil unions in 2011, said if lawmakers sent him that bill, he'd sign it.
"I'd say the sooner the better," the governor told reporters this week.
The
women filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday, citing Gray's cancer as a
reason to get a marriage license quickly. Then on Monday, a judge
ordered the license and Cook County clerk officials hand-delivered it.
Taylor
said marriage means that Ewert will be better protected when it comes
to taxes and other federal benefits not guaranteed with a civil union.
The
two first met at a work event hosted by the Cook County state's
attorney's office and soon started dating. They were engaged in 2009.
Ewert said she was "immediately attracted" to Gray, who worked as a
victims' advocate in the Cook County court system. Ewert works for state
Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat.
"Vernita
is bigger than life. She has done so much with her life and given so
much to her community," Ewert said. "She is a force of nature."
But
both women have struggled with health issues; both have had breast
cancer. Gray was first diagnosed in 1996 and underwent chemotherapy
about the same time as Ewert.
However, things
worsened for Gray, especially in June when cancer was found in her
brain. She underwent surgery to have a tumor roughly the size of a golf
ball removed from her head.
It was also around
that time when the women watched efforts to legalize gay marriage stall
in the Illinois Legislature, which Ewert said was "terribly"
disappointing.
The measure first passed the
Illinois Senate on Valentine's Day, but the House sponsor said he didn't
have the votes in his chamber in May and didn't call it for a vote. He
vowed to bring it back and did so earlier this month when it passed
through his chamber by a close margin.
The
June 1 date has created some headaches for county clerk offices since
it's a Sunday. Some have said they'll be open for business that day,
while others said they won't have the resources.
Ahead of the wedding day, Ewert said she was happy to see the judge's quick turnaround.
"Things
went so much faster than we expected them to," she said. "We didn't
expect there to be so much interest. We're just two little old ladies
from Chicago."
