Dozens of gay couples wed in mass ceremony

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Dozens of same-sex couples legally married in a mass ceremony in Houston Sunday. They called it Texas' Big Legal Wedding.

Forty couples took their vows at the altar of Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church. Their families and friends packed the pews for the ceremony.

We spoke with couples who have been together for more than 30 years, and one couple that got married Sunday after dating for four months.

The church has done the mass ceremony since the 1960s, but it was always in protest to same-sex marriage not being legal. This was the first year the clergy here performed a legal wedding, and were actually able to sign the marriage licenses afterward.

Just about every couple said they never thought they'd see the day it would be legal for them to tie the knot.

"It's a great day. We're celebrating," says Julie Macleod. "And it's just been a long time waiting for this to happen. It's finally here. We couldn't be happier."

"This is for us a renewal of our vows, because we made a commitment to each other 28 and a half years ago and we're still sticking with it," says Dan Lindquist. "And we've been together, at the end of this month, it'll be 31 years."

"My marrying her has nothing to do with anybody else," explains Shirley Pettis. "It's just me and her. Me, her, and God."

Pettis plans to marry her partner Sandy in January on the 25th anniversary of their relationship.

All the couples married during this ceremony are now legally married in the state of Texas, complete with marriage licenses.

Whatever anyone's opinion of same-sex marriage, or the Supreme Court decision to legalize it nationwide, it was impossible to deny the love that was in Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church room during and after the ceremony.