Civil Marriage | Civil Right - Gay marriage anniversary celebration

Gay marriage anniversary celebration
By Ben Casselman – Staff Writer
Photographs by Marilyn Humphries
Salem News
May 16, 2005
Mentioned on front page, A6

DANVERS — Steve Galante and Bill Pluckhahn's wedding didn't change much in their lives. After all, they'd considered themselves married for years before the Supreme Judicial Court forced the state to recognize their relationship.

But if legalized same-sex marriage has been, as Galante describes it, "anticlimactic" for the couple, it hasn't been for their five children.

"I think the support and joy of the day really affected them," Galante said. "It was really affirming for them."

Galante, Pluckhahn and many others, gay and straight, celebrated the one-year anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage on Saturday at a party held at John Archer's North Street home. The event doubled as a fundraiser for the History Project, a Boston-based organization that seeks to document the history of gays and lesbians in Massachusetts.

The co-chairwoman of the History Project, Salem resident Pat Gozemba, called the event "a mixture of celebration and politics."

"These were people who were out there fighting for this right for many years before anyone thought it was possible," Gozemba said.

Reprinted courtesy of The Salem News