Three kids stand with the sign that reads, "Please marry our Mums."
The children are
9-year-old Javarn, 7-year-old Maycee and 6-year-old Mikaere, and their
moms are Lynley Bendall and Ally Wanikau.
The women, who have been
together for some 14 years, were planning to get married Monday -- the
first day same-sex marriage becomes legal in New Zealand.
The couple will exchange
vows aboard a flight from Queenstown to Auckland, according to an Air
New Zealand statement. The airline chose Bendall and Wanikau from
entries that came from around New Zealand.
New Zealand's parliament
voted in April to legalize same-sex marriage, making it the first
country in the Asia Pacific region to do so.
A double wedding was held Monday at the Rotorua Museum in the city of the same name.
"It has been a really
positive celebration," said museum marketing manager Joanna Doherty,
adding there were no protesters outside. "It was lovely."
About 90 invited guests
and members of a radio station crew that put on a competition for the
all-expenses-paid wedding were on hand as Rachel Briscoe and Jess Ivess
and Richard Rawstorn and Richard Andrew exchanged vows.
The museum only this year began hosting weddings and other private functions.
"I think the museum is
traditionally seen as old-fashioned ... but we just wanted to be seen as
a place that welcomes everybody," Doherty told CNN. "It is everybody's
history that gets told here."
Including New Zealand, 14 countries now allow same-sex marriage. Of those, nine are in Europe.
The Netherlands was the
first, in 2001, and it was later joined by Belgium, Spain, Norway,
Sweden, Iceland, Portugal, Denmark and France. Argentina, Uruguay,
Canada and South Africa are the non-European countries in the group.
Same-sex marriage is also legal in some parts of Brazil, Mexico and the United States.
Culled from CNN
No comments:
Post a Comment