Circumstances didn't exactly fall into place as planned for a couple from Texas Friday, but they couldn't have asked for a better ending.
Sandra Carter and her partner of 10 years, Tomara Carter, had hoped to fly from Dallas to Boston Friday morning to apply for their marriage license. They planned to return to the Massachusetts capital in August to profess their vows, as the Commonwealth has a mandatory three-day minimum waiting period to grant applicants a license.
The couple was unable to get a flight to Boston, so they decided to take the closest thing: a standby flight to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. From there, they would rent a car and drive to Boston, where they had hotel reservations Friday night.
En route to Massachusetts, they stopped for lunch at the D'Angelo's sandwich shop in Enfield. While eating, they saw a sign that said "courthouse."
The next thing they knew, they were at the Enfield town clerk's office, where they obtained their marriage license (Connecticut has no waiting period) and contacted a justice of the peace (who happened to be this author). Within 15 minutes, they were married.
Following the spur-of-the-moment ceremony, the couple said how happy they were for the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which has paved the way for federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
"I was kicked out of the Air Force in 1987 for being a lesbian," Sandy said. "They gave me an honorable discharge, but took away my security clearance and told me to get lost. The Supreme Court decision will make our lives financially easier."
Now that the Carters are legally married, they have scrapped their original plan to return to Boston next month.
"Maybe we'll take that time to go on an actual vacation," Tomara laughed. "Maybe we'll even come back here."
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