Braddock Mayor Performs First Gay Marriage In Allegheny Co.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Last week he spoke out against the ban on gay marriage and now the Mayor of Braddock is publicly defying it.
Monday night he performed Allegheny County's first same-sex marriage.
The couple that was married knows that neither the Pennsylvania nor the federal government may recognize their marriage, but they say one day they hope it will be recognized by both.
John Kandray and Bill Gray of Regent Square have been together for 11 years. They share a house, two dogs and what they say is a deep love for each other.
"Showing our commitment to each other," Gray said, "which we've been at that point for a long time, just now we can prove it."
When they heard that Montgomery County was issuing licenses to same-sex couples, they went across the state to get one. And then they heard Braddock Mayor John Fetterman was willing to marry them.
"I just think it's time people in Pennsylvania say, Mr. Corbett, you know, tear down this law," Fetterman said. "DOMA is a fundamentally unjust piece of legislation."
"We pay the same taxes, we do everything the same, but we don't have the same rights," Kandray said.
"It felt like, you know what, let's stand up for ourselves and do this," he added.
So at the mayor's home and in front of the couple's family and friends, they exchanged rings and were married by the mayor.
The couple was married around 9:30 p.m. after Kandray got home from work. And when asked why they didn't wait until the weekend, they said they just didn't want to wait that long.
Pennsylvania does currently have a ban on gay marriage, but the ACLU is challenging that ban.
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