Pa. gay couple gets married as county becomes defiant of state ban

On Thursday, July 25th, 2013

0 Comments | By Tarringo Vaughan

Two women in the state of Pennsylvania have become trail blazers of sorts. 45-year-old Alicia Terrizzi and 40-year-old Loreen Bloodgood exchanged vows on Tuesday according to the Associated Press on July 24.

The Montgomery County natives participated in a religious ceremony near Philadelphia after county officials defied the state ban on gay marriage by giving the two a same-sex license. The newlywed couple said they just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the county. Terrizzi and Bloodgood was one of two gay couples to receive marriage licenses from the county.

According to Montgomery County Chairman Josh Shapiro, the willingness of the county to issue licenses to gay couples and defy the state ban is his belief that the state of Pennsylvania will eventually welcome marriage equality.

The state currently has a statute that defines marriage as the union of “one man and one woman and thus bans the recognition of same-sex marriages. Back on July 9, 23 plaintiffs filed a suit in the Federal District Court in Harrisburg to overturn the ban citing the ruling of the United States Supreme Court striking down the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Gay marriage in the state got a jolt when Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Kathleen Kane, said that she would not defend the state against a lawsuit to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage.

As for now, Alicia Terizzi and Loreen Bloodgood are the first gay couple to marry in the state. Although it is not legal by definition of the state, they hope that very soon it will be.

About Tarringo Vaughan - Tarringo T. Vaughan always believed he had a love affair with literature. One of the first pictures he saw of himself was of him at maybe the age of three or four year’s old sitting with a book in his hand. But for Tarringo, growing up in the depths of the inner city both in Boston, MA and Springfield, MA made him believe that expression through the literary voice was un-cool and unattainable. As a very quiet and shy child he learned it became very valuable in his self expression. Born in 1976, Tarringo was the first child, grandchild and nephew in a family that had grown accustomed to struggle. His mother was a teenager who quickly lost the support of my father who today he knows very little of. These aspects of his life triggered the inspiration of his pen.