Pair Of Graduates Become First Men To Marry At West Point
WEST POINT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Two graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point became the first men to marry each other at the storied military academy.
Larry Choate III, class of 2009, married Daniel Lennox, class of 2007, on Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel.
West Point hosted two same-sex weddings of women in late 2012, more than a year after New York state legalized gay marriage. But this was the first time two men were wed at West Point.
"It's maybe one more barrier that's pushed over a little bit, or maybe one more glass ceiling that's shattered that makes it easier for the next couple," Choate said Friday.
Choate, 27, said the landmark Gothic chapel at the Hudson Valley academy is a special place and it would be an honor to be wed there. He taught Sunday school at the chapel as a cadet and always thought of it as the place he would get married, if he could.
The pair did not know each other as cadets, but met later through a mutual friend.
Both men are out of the military. Lennox, a 28-year-old from Washington, D.C, is getting his master's degree in business administration at Harvard University in Massachusetts. Choate, from Seattle, works at the business school there and is applying to Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Despite the precedent, Choate stressed the he and Lennox are just like any other couple wed in the sprawling chapel.
"It's going to be just like every other wedding there," he said, "except probably a lot smaller and no bride."
The State of New York legalized gay marriage in July 2011. Officials estimate gay marriage had an economic impact of $259 million on New York City alone during the first year.
The state legalized gay marriage months before President Barack Obama lifted the "don't ask, don't tell" that prohibited openly gay people from serving in the military.
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