Maine Issues First Gay Marriage Licenses

Here come the grooms! After years of fighting for the right to wed, same-sex couples in Maine finally got their chance just after midnight Saturday morning, when the city of Portland, the state's largest, began issuing marriage licenses. After waiting in line with more than a dozen other couples, Steven Bridges and Michael Snell became the state's first gay couple to legally wed, six years after their private commitment ceremony. The Maine legislature had approved same-sex marriage before, but three years ago it was overturned by referendum—an act that was itself overturned by another referendum last month.