Gay couples impulsively rushed to get hitched when New York passed the Marriage Equality Act on June 24, 2011. It wasn’t the matrimony or the sanctity of marriage that they were after, for some it was the fame or the bragging rights that comes with being the first to do anything, like owning the newest iPhone.
In their haste to marry the woman of their dreams, Katie Marks and Dese’Rae Stage danced in the streets, then rushed up the steps of the courthouse to say “I do.”
Katie wearing a magenta dress and Des dressed in skinny jeans and pink Chuck Taylors joined 23 other couples at the Pop Up Chapel, a one-day wedding event in Central Park, according to TheAtlanticwire.com.
By January, the newness of marriage had worn off, and a stark reality had set in: they really weren’t made for each other after all. By March, Katie moved in with her new lover, a woman she met on Instagram. Now Katie and Des are among the first gay couples — if not the first — to get a divorce in NY.
“I’m trying to find the most loving way to get us through this practically,” Des told a reporter, “but I do believe we never should have been anything more than friends.”
Naturally, Des is not as enthusiastic about her upcoming divorce as she was when she spoke to reporters last year, and when contacted by a reporter, Katie declined to discuss her brief marriage.
Unlike gay marriage, gay divorce doesn’t have that same ring to it.
“Most people aren’t checking with their lawyer before they get married,” says Elizabeth Schwartz, a lawyer practicing in Florida. “They’re doing what straight people do: ‘I’m excited, let’s get married, and work out the problem later.'”
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