West Point chapel hosts its first same-sex wedding
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Cadet Chapel, the landmark Gothic church that is a center for spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, hosted its first same-sex wedding Saturday.
Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain.
The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 and had long hoped to formally tie the knot. The way was cleared last year, when New York legalized same-sex marriage and President Barack Obama lifted the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.
The brides both live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.
"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton told The Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday.
Cadet Chapel was a more-than-adequate second choice, she said.
"It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer," Fulton said, referring to the invocation that says, "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won."
The ceremony was the second same-sex wedding at West Point. Last weekend, two of Fulton's friends, a young lieutenant and her partner, were married in another campus landmark, the small Old Cadet Chapel in West Point's cemetery.
Fulton has campaigned against the ban on gays in the military as a member of two groups representing gay and lesbian servicemen and servicewomen. She graduated from West Point in 1980, a member of the first class to include women.
She served with the Army Signal Corps in Germany and rose to the rank of captain, but left the service in 1986 partly because she wanted to be open about her sexual orientation. Obama appointed her last year to the U.S. Military Academy's Board of Visitors.
Fulton said the only hassle involved in arranging her ceremony came when she was initially told that none of West Point's chaplains was authorized by his or her denomination to perform same-sex weddings.
Luckily, Fulton said, they were able to call on a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith. He is the senior Army chaplain at Dover Air Force Base, where he presides over the solemn ceremonies held when the bodies of soldiers killed in action overseas return to U.S. soil.
The couple added other military trappings to their wedding, including a tradition called the saber arch, where officers or cadets hold their swords aloft over the newlyweds as they emerge from the church.
Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain.
The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 and had long hoped to formally tie the knot. The way was cleared last year, when New York legalized same-sex marriage and President Barack Obama lifted the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.
The brides both live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.
"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton told The Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday.
Cadet Chapel was a more-than-adequate second choice, she said.
"It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer," Fulton said, referring to the invocation that says, "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won."
The ceremony was the second same-sex wedding at West Point. Last weekend, two of Fulton's friends, a young lieutenant and her partner, were married in another campus landmark, the small Old Cadet Chapel in West Point's cemetery.
Fulton has campaigned against the ban on gays in the military as a member of two groups representing gay and lesbian servicemen and servicewomen. She graduated from West Point in 1980, a member of the first class to include women.
She served with the Army Signal Corps in Germany and rose to the rank of captain, but left the service in 1986 partly because she wanted to be open about her sexual orientation. Obama appointed her last year to the U.S. Military Academy's Board of Visitors.
Fulton said the only hassle involved in arranging her ceremony came when she was initially told that none of West Point's chaplains was authorized by his or her denomination to perform same-sex weddings.
Luckily, Fulton said, they were able to call on a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith. He is the senior Army chaplain at Dover Air Force Base, where he presides over the solemn ceremonies held when the bodies of soldiers killed in action overseas return to U.S. soil.
The couple added other military trappings to their wedding, including a tradition called the saber arch, where officers or cadets hold their swords aloft over the newlyweds as they emerge from the church.
Good for them, nice to see times are changing for the better.Â
It is so sick that Human beings think that they are smarter than God!! To think that Humans can redefine what God says is right and wrong and deem what is called sin and what is not is so wrong! Don't answer to me, because you will have to answer to The Lord for your sins! Ever wonder why our once Great nation is quickly going down the toilet?? When man thinks that he knows better than God.......(Sodom and Gomorrah) Genesis 19.
@Donttreadonme What have your religious beliefs to do with the civil institution of marriage, as viewed by the laws of the United States of America? The correct answer would be "nothing." Nobody is going to force your church to accept gay members, or perform same sex marriage ceremonies. Who your neighbor chooses to marry (same or opposite sex) has nothing to do with your religious beliefs. I choose not to allow you a vote on the lives of my gay friends and I don't want to vote on yours, either. You would do well to stick to what concerns you, and stop meddling in the personal lives of others.
CNN just ran this a story today about a minister of a southern church who fear homosexuality, To over come his life long fear, he pretended to be gay for a year......for those of you god fearing people, with a so called belief that gays are sick, you might want to read the book, The Cross in The Closet. He has some very good points, one being Jesus was not human, but to understand man, he had to walk in man's shoes.... hence, don't judge until you have walked in a gay man's shoe.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R6qIIvYEqs Â
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Congrats to the couple, may your lives continue to grow united
@Tyler Van Pelt You might want to read the book called.......The Bible and see what God says about Gays instead of what some experimenting pastor says. Read Genesis 19 says!
 @Donttreadonme i bet you believe there is a gate to get into haven....gates do two things, kept people out and makes the ones inside prisoners...so your great God is a prison warde ..If you  believe what is written in the bible, then hell has a devil with flames...but if you knew anything at all about the bible, you would know that your called hell was an area in the city which was used for waste disposal, it always had fires burning and there rats crawling around eat the garage....give me a break!!! When blacks were considered less than equal, made to ride in the back of the bus, YOUR church quoted the bible  justifying its beliefs....the bible can be read to fit whatever you wish to believe.Â
So, if you wish to live by the bible, I would suggest a few "laws" for you to live by:
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DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately.
DEUTERONOMY 22:22If a married person has sex with someone elseâs husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death.
MARK 10:1-12Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced
.LEVITICUS 18:19The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a womanâs period. If they disobey, both shall be executed.MARK 12:18-27If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir.
DEUTERONOMY 25:11-12If a man gets into a fight with another man and his wife seeks to rescue her husband by grabbing the enemyâs genitals, her hand shall be cut off and no pity shall be shown her.
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now go back to sunday school with your bible
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These two honor the true spirit of commitment and represent the true meaning of marriage by spending their lives together. This gives me pride as an American that my country has afforded the same civil rights to these people as to any other couple whose commitment hasn't been challenged in the slightest.Â
Two words: WHO CARES?!
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 @riderofthelegend Wow. Thanks for sharing your personal experiences with anal sex with all of us, but those details really aren't relevant here. This is about marriage, not sex. Furthermore, this is a lesbian couple. And you really need to ask your own partner to take a little more interest in his/her personal hygiene before you engage them in such a way. Yikes!!
@riderofthelegend @kimby79 This is about gay marriage not anal sex.No one is asking you for your personal blessing or permission when it comes to what they do in the privacy of their own homes.I kinda wonder about people like you who have a obsession about how people get their groove on.Its Noneofyourbizzness.
 @kimby79  Well, it seems that you care, since you bothered to click on the article, read/skim it, and then comment. I doubt you would have done that if you didn't care at all. The people who genuinely don't care didn't do any of those things, and people who do care are here reading and commenting. Would you like me to elaborate on why people care about this, or have I sufficiently addressed a rather meaningless rhetorical question? Kudos on your word count!
Good for them!!
Masel tov!
Well, I'm not gay... and I don't really understand why someone is attracted to someone else of the same sex...but I don't think I need to understand it to know that as long as it involves 2 consenting adults, it is not harming me or my loved ones.   No one is forced to have a relationship with or marry someone of their own sex.  Â
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I remember, when I grew up ('50s- early '60s), marriages between people of different races was considered to be a "terrible" thing - people thought the world was coming to an end...and yet now, it is almost commonplace; no one really thinks much about it (well, except for some extremist racial bigots). Â Â
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We heterosexuals have not done so well with the "sanctity of marriage" concept that we can afford to - or should have any right to - dictate to others that OUR choice should be the only one available.   And for those who claim that their objections are based on their religion, please try to remember - and RESPECT - the fact that not everyone subscribes to your faith / religion... and those other people have rights, too.  Â
 @margay1 Well why can't we pay women to have sex  with us as long as were both consenting adults.
 @riderofthelegend What does prostitution have to do with marriage? Oh wait, you must be one of those "men" (and I use the term loosely) who treats their wife like a paid and personal sex slave. I'm sure glad that you don't get to dictate the terms of my marriage, or anyone else's!! My condolences to your wife.
 @margay1  Very nicely said, Margay. =)
Another step forward for society. Â Those opposed to the idea should remember that they are not entitled to the personal affairs of others.Â
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I think everyone could benefit from watching this video.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0Be8LnuG3U
Good for them.Congratulations to the LGBT community for their election night victories.
This story is extremely offensive to me. Not only because it openly condones and sanctions an immoral, aberrant life choice, but also because of what it says about the quality of people serving as guardians of the USA. How the mighty have fallen!
 @Patriot1946 I think you should move to a third world country, where you can be proud and feel safe.
@Patriot1946 Well mow, aren't you an open-minded individual with intelligently formed opinions! What I want to know is how you managed to get a computer, learn to operate it, and get electricity installed in your cave.Â
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Don't tell me Neaderthals are extinct. Patriot1946 is living proof they have survived without evolving!
 @Patriot1946 ~  "immoral and aberrant life choice" by whose standards..?  Why should the "standards" of one person - or even a group - be allowed to deny basic rights to other people?   The only "standard" that should apply to same-sex marriage is that it should only be between consenting adults.  Â
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Insofar as the military is concerned, how exactly does a person's choice of a lifetime partner make them either a better or worse soldier..? Â Â
@Patriot1946 Conservatives have been taking this issue to the voters for over 30 years.The voters have spoken in four states.i suppose if you are so vehemently opposed to gay marriage then perhaps you should have campaigned harder and donated more money because it's a done deal.It will be a done deal nationwide when the SCOTUS rules in favor of gay marriage.
This is a sick fraud.
@sortbait Troll much?
 @sortbait Religion is the greatest and most disgusting fraud of all.  The greatest control scheme of ALL TIME.
 @Silver Surfer  @sortbait So wait Silver surfer you want to preach tolerance and love of all but then bad mouth someone else right to have faith. Kind of the pot calling the kettle black you can not have it both ways. You can not get angry at some for bad mouthing one thing and then turn around and bad mouth something else. Tolerance is just that the right of those who choose to follow what they want .
 @Trainwife Â
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How exactly did Silver "bad mouth" anyone's right to "have faith"? Silver simply made the statement that RELIGION is a fraud and a sham and said nothing of FAITH.
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And, I agree with Silver. In fact; I believe that is the central message of Christ. Consider that Christ overturned the tables of the money changers and condemned the Pharisees and they, in turn, condemned Christ because he was a threat to their profitable and fraudulent religion that profited on the manipulation of the peoples desire to have faith. Â
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Christ, as it is written in the gospels, taught that true faith was a direct relationship with God and could only be depreciated by mediation by any church or church folk and that, my friend, is how the O.G. Christ broke down faith. Therefore, by the new deal of Christ faith has nothing to do with religion and I asks youse: why buy the cow when the milk is free? AmIRight? Yes, I am and I know because the bible tells me so and Christ says everyone should read it for themselves and ol' Gutenberg made it so.
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Don't get your magic panties in a bunch; go commando!
@Trainwife @Silver Surfer @sortbait No one is preaching *tolerance* here.Matter of fact,âToleranceâ used to mean that people lived next door to their neighbors in peace, and minded their own business. Didnât matter if your neighbors were a different religion or political party or sexuality or what kind of legal arraignments they chose to enter into.Granted,its a concept that many Christian conservatives still don't have a grasp of.Hereâs my argument in a nutshell: If you are gay, who gives a s***. If your religion says that gay sex is forbidden, donât copulate with someone of your own sex. Itâs that easy. If you donât like gay marriage, donât had a gay marriage.