Two Former Male Cadets Marry in West Point Chapel

We can expect the spittle to be flying fast and furiously in the usual quarters over the marriage yesterday of two graduates of West Point who became the first male same sex couple to marry in West Point's chapel.  West Point graduates Larry Lennox-Choate and Daniel Lennox-Choate are pictured above leaving the chapel.  The times are clearly changing despite the efforts of the Christofascists to take America backwards in time and to force their hate filled version of Christianity on all.   Here are highlights from CBS News:

Two West Point graduates were married Saturday in the military academy's first wedding between two men.

Larry Choate III, class of 2009, married Daniel Lennox, class of 2007, before about 20 guests.  Choate, 27, taught Sunday school at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel and said he always thought of it as the place he would get married if he could.

West Point hosted two same-sex weddings of women in late 2012, more than a year after New York legalized same-sex marriage. But Saturday's wedding was the first time two men wed at West Point.

"It's maybe one more barrier that's pushed over a little bit, or maybe one more glass ceiling that's shattered that makes it easier for the next couple," Choate said Friday.

Choate and Lennox are out of the military and wore tuxedoes for the ceremony. Some of their guests were in uniform.

The 28-year-old Lennox is getting his master's degree in business administration at Harvard University. Choate is applying to Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The pair did not know each other as cadets but met later through a friend.  Chaplain Cynthia Lindenmeyer officiated the ceremony.

Congratulations to the newlyweds!!

West Point Chapel to Host First Gay Marriage

Get out the foul weather gear.  The spittle is going to be flying by the bucket full amongst the Christianists and professional bigot Christian set - and their political whores in the GOP will be similarly convulsing - as they get wind of the fact that the cadet chapel at West Point is going to be the scene of a same sex wedding.  The happy couple are Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin and their wedding will be held today.  A story in USA Today looks at the coming nuptials which will be yet another example of the mainstreaming of same sex marriage despite the efforts and shrieks and howls of  far right religious extremists who seek to inflict their toxic religious beliefs on all Americans.  I can easily envision Elaine Donnelly writhing and convulsing on the floor in a pool of spittle in reaction to the story.  Here are story highlights:

The first same-sex marriage at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point will be celebrated Saturday as Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin exchange vows.  The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving.

Fulton, a veteran and the communications director of an organization called Outserve — which represents actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel — confirmed in an e-mail to USA TODAY Friday night: "We will be the first same sex couple to wed at the Cadet Chapel at West Point."

The wedding will be the second gay marriage West Point has hosted. The first was a small, private ceremony last weekend between two of Fulton's friends in a smaller venue on the campus.

In September 2011, the Pentagon issued guidance stating that "determinations regarding the use of DOD real property and facilities for private functions, including religious and other ceremonies, should be made on a sexual-orientation neutral basis, provided such use is not prohibited by applicable state and local laws."

Fulton, 53, said she is getting married at the academy because "West Point has been an important part of my life," but also because Gov. Chris Christie in her home state of New Jersey vetoed a gay marriage bill earlier this year. 

"We had always said that we wanted to get married in New Jersey," Fulton told USA Today, but "we didn't want to wait any longer," particularly because Gnesim, 52, is a breast cancer survivor and suffers from multiple sclerosis.

"It is wonderful for us to celebrate the recognition that New York state will give our marriage," Fulton said, but "there is also some regret that we can't get married in our home state."