Allegheny County marries its first same-sex couple amid smiles, tears; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/21/14

Kaitlynn Riely, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Allegheny County marries its first same-sex couple amid smiles, tears:

"Two days ago, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III in Harrisburg ruled that Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The ruling, handed down early Tuesday afternoon, meant that Pennsylvania immediately recognized same-sex marriages that were performed in other states. And it meant that in Pennsylvania, same-sex partners could apply for, and would receive, marriage licenses.

The Marriage License Bureau in Allegheny County was closed Tuesday for Election Day, but the county announced shortly after Judge Jones' decision that couples could begin the online application process immediately. By midnight Tuesday, 160 marriage license applications had been filed, a spike from the 29 filed the day before, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said...

First in line, and in line well before the office opened, were Ms. Garrity and Ms. VanHaitsma.

Ms. Garrity, a 38-year-old senior research associate for UPMC, and Ms. VanHaitsma, a 35-year-old recent Ph.D. recipient who plans to begin teaching college English, met four and a half years ago, introduced by mutual friends at a birthday party. They got engaged in February 2013 and, in what Ms. Garrity said was a "happy coincidence," they had a noncivil marriage ceremony Saturday at the Union Project in Highland Park.

It was a wedding with all the trappings of tradition: 120 guests, two rings, a wedding dress and a burnt almond torte from Prantl's. When it was over, the two women were married in the eyes of their family, their friends and themselves, but not in Pennsylvania's.

They planned to drive to Maryland, where gay marriage is legal, to make it official. They were both at home Tuesday, recovering from wedding festivities before returning to work, when they realized a trip to Maryland was unnecessary."