This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Southampton's 1st Married Gay Couple Rejoices

The first to wed in Southampton Town under legalized same-sex marriage in New York State two years ago say that Wednesday's Supreme Court decision on DOMA is a "validation."

Nearly two years after Water Mill residents Alan Ceppos and Frederic Rambaud became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Southampton Town, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Wednesday that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

During an interview Wednesday afternoon, the couple expressed their happiness with the court decision that recognizes their marriage on the federal level.

"It sounds ridiculous, but when I saw the news on CNN, I actually started to cry," Ceppos said. "It seems like a validation of everything Frederic and I have lived for our wholes lives."
 
Rambaud said they were in a business meeting when his phone started to receive alerts from various gay and liberal organizations, announcing the news. The first alert came at 10:11 a.m. and email continued to come in all day.

“The meeting was kind of interrupted and we were very happy to see this historic moment,” Rambaud said.

“It’s really major for people like us, who have been living together for so long,” Ceppos said.

They met 40 years ago in Paris, where Ceppos gave Rambaud  English lessons.

Rambaud said he had been closely following the DOMA case. "You cannot escape it if you are a member of any type of LGBT organization of any Democrat or liberal organization," he said. "It was such a big thing for center and left-of-center, that you could not avoid but being kept up.”

Rambaud said that five years ago he never could have imagined same-sex marriage would be recognized on the federal level — even two years ago, when New York State approved it, he was still skeptical.

On top of the intangible reasons they rejoiced in the Supreme Court decision, there are also many rights Ceppos and Rambaud have been looking forward to.

“There’s something like a thousand different federal laws that, now, those laws cannot discriminate against us,” Rambaud said.

And from a practical, financial standpoint, Ceppos said, "This saves us thousands, thousands of dollars in legal fees because we’ve had to jockey all of our assets and get professional help to circumvent the tax implications should one of us die.”

"Months ago we did not make certain decisions because we were waiting for those results," he said. "We were gambling on the fact that the results would now be the way they are."
 
Rambaud said that though New York State and the federal government now recognize their marriage, it is not over for them yet.  Outside of Washington, D.C., and the 13 states that recognize same-sex marriage, they would not enjoy all the same privileges granted to other married couples.

"There is not a day that goes by that in some way, shape, form or manner we not reminded of our difference,” Ceppos said. "Now, there might be a day or two that goes by that we’re not reminded at all."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?