The first day Delaware permitted same sex couples to marry ended with one final first.
Over a hundred guests gathered at Wilmington’s Gibraltar Mansion to celebrate first same-sex marriage without a prior civil union. The honor belonged to Joseph Daigle and Daniel Cole, one of 108 same-sex couples that received a marriage license on the day First State’s law allowing gay marriage went into effect.
Cole and Daigle say knowing they were part of history as they exchanged vows with Daigle adds something to an already special day.
“What will be best about being first in my mind is being able to tell our children one day, being able to share this with them," said Cole.
"To be able to know that we were a part of the movement, a part of changing America for the better and Delaware for the better,” added Daigle.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who attended the ceremony as both a guest speaker and friend of the couple, believes that their marriage pays homage to a much large cause.
“I hope the story that is mostly told is the physical, emotional, and intellectual courage that it’s taken so many men and women like Joe and Dan to fight, not just over the last year or two years, but the last many decades,” said Biden.
Cole and Daigle met while on a bus to an equality march in Washington D.C. when they were students at the University of Delaware. Cole works in the New Castle County’s Clerk of the Peace Ken Boulden’s office, who officiated the ceremony.
While Cole and Daigle had confidence that they would eventually be able to get married in Delaware, they admitted that they did not expect it this soon.
