PrideFest wedding ceremony celebrates unity, love

They wore formal dresses and Technicolor tank tops; a pink lace-up corset and straw cowboy hats. All wore smiles. Many were smiling through tears.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the love of these couples as they are joined in holy matrimony," said the Rev. Nori Rost, a pastor at Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church, to the dozens of same-sex couples who stood before her, hand in hand, waiting to get married in Acacia Park on Sunday.

It's a familiar phrase, in unusual circumstances.

Two months after California overturned its ban on gay marriage, the fifth annual PrideFest wedding ceremony marks an intermediary point in the fight for same-sex partnership. While same-sex couples in California line up for marriage certificates, the Colorado Legislature does not recognize such partnerships.

"It's marriage in everything but legality," said the Rev. Wes Mullins, a senior pastor at Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church who also presided over the ceremony. Still, Mullins found the wedding to be bittersweet in light of the recent legislation.

"There's hope that more places are starting to recognize that love is love is love, but it's hard that we get to watch more states make this move and for us it's just not here yet," he said.

That is what prompted Aurora residents Don Campbell, 68, and Tom Simpleman, 60, to fly to San Francisco this month, where they were legally wed. The couple, formerly of Colorado Springs, married 10 years ago at the Metropolitan Community Church, but as Simpleman said: "Churches perform ceremonies, but that doesn't make them legal."

With crinkled eyes and interlocking hands Shianne White and Jamie Hughes-White exchanged their vows: a moment which marks almost two years of struggle for the couple. Living amid what Shianne describes as a "completely intolerant" rural community in Florida, it was hard raising their sons - Cameron 9, and Omarion, 2, both Jamie's biological children. Shianne's company insurance policy wouldn't cover the boys and because Florida doesn't allow samesex adoption, the couple had few options.

After moving to the Springs last month, things turned around for the couple, who are working on formalizing an adoption of the boys.

"We wanted to give them a better future, this here," Shianne says, gesturing to the stage where the wedding had taken place "all this is to give them a new start"

The couple has another wedding date planned: July 20th, 2009, when they'll make a trip to California or "wherever we gotta go," to get a legal marriage license.

Though Larry and Gene West-Berry also plan on getting an official marriage licence in California, when they decided to marry six months ago, they wanted to do it with a bang.

"We were going to do it privately and then we thought: ‘We'll do it out there in front of the city,' just to show our love in public and to show it's not a problem," Gene said

The pride weddings kicked off Friday with a demonstration at the courthouse, where same-sex couples attempted to apply for marriage licenses, and were, one by one, denied.

"We don't need a marriage certificate to love one another, to care for one another... a marriage certificate should not be issued based on how you pee," shouted Rost to a roaringly appreciative crowd of hundreds of festivalgoers.

But most of the ceremony focused less on politics, more on love.

"Not as a bond but as a pledge, I give you this ring," said Mullins, telling the couples to exchange wedding bands. Sarah Salazar slid a flat studded wedding band, bought in a rush the day before, onto partner Danielle Trujillo's finger.

"We see this as kind of eloping, and then we'll have a real ceremony with friends and family later," said Salazar, who decided a few days before to marry at Pride-Fest and drove with Danielle from Denver to attend.

Nicole Crane and Teya Corey didn't have a chance to buy rings, but all it took was some improvising. Corey quickly unhooked a thread of rainbow beads from around her neck, latching it around Crane's throat with a kiss.

"We now pronounce you one in love, peace and joy," said both reverends amid shouts, dozens of kisses, and flashes of cameras held by friends and family.

The couples ended in a traditional manner, feasting on Creative Cakes wedding cakes (with two-bride, two-groom cake topper) and sparkling cider. For Shianne, the day was about more then the ceremony.

"To know that my boys and my wife are gonna be with me forever," she said. "It's just the best feeling in the world."

Campbell and Simpleman brought a little old-fashioned tradition to the parade, held earlier that day. Of all the outlandish parade entrants, their simple one got the most cheers. A "just married" sign and string of cans.

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Gazette reporter Brian Newsome contributed to this story.