<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">"<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">For Wes Johnson and Robert Franklin, a wedding will wait until their friends and family can join them early next year.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); ">After 35 years together, they said, they are grateful for the chance to get married."</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of today's (December 7, 2012) Spokesman-Review.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">-------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><h1 style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; "><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">License to wed</span></font></h1><h5 class="subhead" style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: normal; clear: both; "><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Spokane County, 23 same-sex couples take advantage of milestone day</span></font></h5></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After waiting months, years and even decades, the last few hours and minutes of anticipation were joyful.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The dozen or so same-sex couples who were among the first to receive marriage licenses in Spokane County on Thursday spent their time in line taking pictures and chatting about families, love stories and wedding plans.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They snacked on baked goods topped with gay pride flags. Even employees at the Auditor’s Office brought their cameras to capture the historic moment.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then right at 8:30, retired Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt and her partner, Laurie Johnson, stepped up to the counter to apply for the first marriage license.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The room was silent except for the clicking of cameras as the two filled out their paperwork, and then the celebration began.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Witt and Johnson said they were shaking as they walked out of the office and reflected on how far they had come in their quest for equal rights for same-sex couples.</span></div><div><br></div><div><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After waiting months, years and even decades, the last few hours and minutes of anticipation were joyful.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The dozen or so same-sex couples who were among the first to receive marriage licenses in Spokane County on Thursday spent their time in line taking pictures and chatting about families, love stories and wedding plans.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They snacked on baked goods topped with gay pride flags. Even employees at the Auditor’s Office brought their cameras to capture the historic moment.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then right at 8:30, retired Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt and her partner, Laurie Johnson, stepped up to the counter to apply for the first marriage license.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The room was silent except for the clicking of cameras as the two filled out their paperwork, and then the celebration began.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s what we’ve wanted since the beginning,” Witt said. “This is another incredible chapter in our lives and we’re very thankful for everyone that worked so hard to get this done.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After being dismissed from the Air Force in 2004 for a relationship with a civilian woman, Witt sued the military and eventually won reinstatement. She chose to retire.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She had a personal invitation to President Barack Obama’s signing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” last year.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So in an act of symbolism Tuesday, Witt presented the marriage license clerk her military ID.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We can serve, we can get married in states where it’s legal to get married, but the gay and lesbian service members still don’t have their spouses or their families recognized because (the federal Defense of Marriage Act) is still in place,” Witt said, adding, “My work is not done.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For now, Johnson said, they will enjoy the moment along with the other couples, many of whom hugged, cried and waved their paperwork to applause.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fred Perez, the recording specialist who accepted Witt and Johnson’s paperwork, said he was nervous about the moment but was excited to be a part of history.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Aside from the new form, Perez said he “treated them the same way” as heterosexual couples.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I don’t care what their gender was,” he said, adding that the same-sex couples were actually more organized with their forms than other people he’s seen over the past five years.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Spokane County Auditor’s Office reported 23 same-sex couples applied for a marriage license Tuesday.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">King County, which includes Seattle, had 456 couples apply for a license before 4 p.m., and all of them were same-sex couples.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the parties were much smaller in other counties, if they happened at all.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lincoln and Whitman counties only reported one same-sex couple each. Stevens County did not have anyone apply for a marriage license Thursday, even though local gay-rights activists were on site for encouragement purposes.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After hearing about the long lines in other counties, Chris Rogers and Matt Dill arrived at the Spokane County Courthouse at 5 a.m. to find themselves first in line. They said they were happy to relinquish dibs on the first official license to Witt and Johnson, given the history.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I think anybody who’s getting their certificate today is making part of history being first, but it’s kind of cool being one of the first in Spokane,” Dill said.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They also expressed thanks to voters for passing Referendum 74 to make gay marriage legal in the state of Washington. Gov. Chris Gregoire certified the election Wednesday.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Chase Lawrence said he and his partner, Chris Henry, have been waiting more than 10 years to get married. They rushed to the courthouse Tuesday morning expecting a big line but managed to be one of the few couples there by 7:30.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The two were emotional while filling out their paperwork.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s just an overwhelming feeling to know that this is real,” Lawrence said.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The first weddings will come Sunday, after the required three-day waiting period. Couples have 60 days to get married after receiving the license.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For Wes Johnson and Robert Franklin, a wedding will wait until their friends and family can join them early next year.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After 35 years together, they said, they are grateful for the chance to get married.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We never thought we’d live long enough,” Johnson said.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Char Parker and Nina Stocker said getting married is a way to assure their children that their family is just as “normal” as any other.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Stocker is seven months pregnant with the couple’s second child.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“They’re obviously going to face adversity for many reasons, not just having a two-mom family,” Stocker said. “I think it’s going to be huge for them later on down the road to not have to feel like people are questioning their family unit.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Parker said they try not to get wrapped up in labels, but there is a “peace of mind” that comes from the phrase “my wife.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s nice to say, ‘This is my person that I’ve committed to,’ ” Parker said. “It’s a big word. It’s powerful. People get married so that they can have that.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">---------------</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Margaret Witt, left, and Laurie Johnson approach the counter to obtain a marriage license at the Spokane County Courthouse.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><img src="cid:EB14D226-B1FC-4C9B-9A21-43E4AA73578F" alt="1207_marriage1_t620.jpg" id="EB14D226-B1FC-4C9B-9A21-43E4AA73578F" width="620" height="493"></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">-------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares"</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen, CPL (Commie Pinko Liberal)</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></body></html>