FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH — Marjorie Hochberg and Judy Gomez flew in from Tucson, Arizona. Tim Finnen and Eric Bennett celebrated 10 years together. Dick Eaton and Joseph Tirana renewed their vows. Fort Lauderdale residents Aly Feliu and Karah Odell jumped at the chance to get married in their hometown. Andres Vasquez and Felipe Cardenas waved around their passports from Columbia, where same-sex marriage still isn’t recognized.
Each of these eclectically dressed gay and straight couples got up at the crack of dawn and braved the pouring rain to take part in a mass wedding organized by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor Bureau at the W Fort Lauderdale Hotel in commemoration of Jan. 6, when marriage equality arrived in Florida.
As the morning began the couples assembled and mingled in the plush Whiskey Blue Lounge of the hotel to hear various speakers introduce the special event. Vice Mayor Martin David Kier reaffirmed Broward County’s open-arms policy of inclusion by saying, “if you want to vacation and feel accepted, come here where we celebrate equality for all.” Former N’Sync band member Lance Bass was on hand as well, proclaiming Fort Lauderdale Beach as his second home “because it is so accepting!”
From the lounge, the wedding parties were ushered up a flight of stairs on a trail of roses to a spacious lounge that opened up onto the second floor balcony with a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Father John Joseph Reid of Divine Mercy, who was there with his husband Father Larry Turner, officiated the nuptials.
After the “I do’s”, airline Jet Blue presented each of the newlyweds with “Something Blue” — a surprise honeymoon package of a round-trip to one of 32 cities, or in the case of couples from outside of Florida, a round-trip ticket back to Fort Lauderdale.
A perfect gift for a perfectly historical occasion.
