The First Gay Couples Who Got Married in Minnesota Will Make You Smile

Even if you’ve got the cold, bitter heart of someone ruined by years of endless OKCupid dates, photos of gay people getting married always make quick work at melting those icy walls away. Case in point: looking at the many couples that stayed up overnight to be the first to get married in Minnesota, where gay marriage became legal at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning.

Pictured above is Margaret Miles on the right and her new wife Cathy ten Broeke. The couple were the first to get married in the state at Minneapolis City Hall. Though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on gay marriage in June, the state actually legalized gay marriage in May.

Everyone really freaked out for them.

Like a lot.

This is Jeff Isaacson, left, and Al Giraud kissing; they were the first males to get married (and check out those lights!). As BuzzFeed‘s Chris Geidner notes, gay marriage legislation has a long history in this state:

Forty-three years ago, Richard Baker and James Michael McConnell were denied a marriage license in Minneapolis because they were both men. They sued to force the county to allow them to marry, but lost in an unceremonious dismissal of their appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak tears up, apparently during a performance by the city’s Gay Men’s Chorus. He married 42 couples.

There was also apparently a performance of “Chapel of Love.” Couples got married all over the state, including at the actual Chapel of Love at the Mall of America.

Rhode Island also started issuing licenses today; above is Gary McDowell, left, and Zachary Marcus at the Providence City Hall Thursday morning. The Associated Press reports that the day in Rhode Island will be “relatively calm” compared to Minnesota’s hubbub early this morning because it’s the last state in New England where same sex marriage is legal. That’s not the case in the Midwest, where same-sex marriage is legal only in Iowa. Civil unions are allowed in Illinois and it’s speculated that potentially later this year, gay marriage will be too. Some lawmakers actually attempted to ban same-sex marriage this year in Minnesota, which actually ended up galvanizing constituents on the issue and pushing for it to become legal. So send a heartfelt thanks to those idiots for your tears on this day.