"With some sleight of hand involving a
legal change to a gender-neutral name, they obtained a marriage license in
another county, and in 1971, in white bell-bottom pantsuits and macramé
headbands, they exchanged vows before a Methodist pastor and a dozen guests
in a friend’s apartment. Their three-tiered wedding cake was topped by two
plastic grooms, which a friend supplied by splitting two bride-and-groom
figurines.
Ever since, they have maintained that theirs was the country’s first lawful
same-sex wedding. The state and federal governments have yet to grant
recognition, but the pastor, Roger W. Lynn, 76, calls theirs “one of my more
successful marriages.”
