Margaret Miles, black dress, left, and Cathy ten Broeke, right, will be the first same-sex couple to be married by Mayor R.T. Rybak at midnight Aug. 1, 2013 at Minneapolis city hall. Their son, Louie Miles ten Broeke, 5, center, will also be present.MINNEAPOLIS – Dozens of gay couples began tying the knot early Thursday morning at Minneapolis City Hall as Minnesota became the latest state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The law allowed weddings to begin just after midnight Wednesday, and 42 couples were expected to be married by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and several Hennepin County judges in the hours before dawn.
Weddings were scheduled to start at the stroke of midnight at Minneapolis City Hall, St. Paul’s Como Park, Mall of America’s Chapel of Love and at county courthouses around the state. One group planned a cluster of weddings in a Duluth tavern.
“I don’t think either of us ever thought we’d see this day,” said Mike Bolin, of the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield, who was marrying Jay Resch, his partner of six years, at Minneapolis City Hall. “We met at low points in both of our lives, and to have arrived at this point – there’s going to be a lot of tears.”
Rhode Island was joining Minnesota on Thursday in becoming the 12th and 13th U.S. states to allow gay marriage, along with the District of Columbia. The national gay rights group Freedom to Marry estimates that about 30 percent of the U.S. population now lives in places where gay marriage is legal. The first gay weddings in Rhode Island were planned for later Thursday morning.