Sunny skies and warm weather brought thousands of people to downtown Seattle on Sunday for the annual Pride Parade. Hot on the heels of the demise of DOMA, people had plenty reason to celebrate.
Jerry Praul was watching the parade from the corner of Pine and 4th. “I love the parade! We’re so happy this year that DOMA got overturned because we just married!” Another woman was waving her rainbow flag and dancing near the corner of Pike St. “It’s just a wonderful day. Especially with DOMA being dead, there’s so much to celebrate.”
About 200 groups and clubs made their way through downtown. There were the usual entries: Amazon, Microsoft and the Seattle Men’s Chorus; then there were a few new additions: the Boy Scouts, followed by a woman at the top of a 13-foot wedding dress.
One lucky couple celebrated with a flash wedding – right in the middle of the parade. “Do you, Jim Weber take this man, Mark Stanley, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold and cherish, love and honor, as long as you both shall live?” the announcer asked the happy couple.
With a resounding, “I do,” the two kissed and became the first couple to ever marry during the annual parade.
Jim Weber embraced his husband and daughters after tying the knot in front of hundreds of screaming parade-goers. “You know we’ve felt married a long time, but to do it now when it really counts and to have our daughters here, we are thrilled, thrilled, thrilled.”