Straight, gay couples use justice’s words in ceremonies

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Emily Smith and Jillian Levine already had chosen a venue, booked a band and written the first draft of the ceremony for their wedding when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gay couples nationwide have a right to marry. Within minutes of the June 26 ruling, Levine texted her fiancee a rainbow emoji and a question about their ceremony.

“Are there any good quotes from this Supreme Court ruling that we could change the reading to?” wrote Levine.

“Yup, already saved it,” Smith typed back, sending a screen shot from Facebook with words that had made her cry.

It was the concluding paragraph of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 28-page majority opinion – now making its way into wedding ceremonies for both gay and straight couples.

“No union is more profound than marriage,” Kennedy’s opinion says, “for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

“It was just so perfect,” Smith said in a telephone interview last month that followed a dress fitting for her now-wife.

Wedding officiants from as far away as Australia said both gay and straight couples are asking them to incorporate excerpts from the ruling into their ceremonies, usually part or all of the same paragraph that touched Smith and Levine.