Alaskan Women First Same Sex Couple to Wed Atop Empire State Building
On Valentine’s Day, here’s a wonderful love story to celebrate. An Anchorage couple, Stephanie Figarelle and Lela McArthur became the first same-sex couple to wed in the Empire State Building, in New York City.
The happy couple won an online contest for the right to have their special moment at the famous landmark. There were four weddings held today, but the Alaska women had the first. This is the first year that same-sex couples can legally marry in New York state.
“The Empire State Building to us in Alaska is like going to Egypt to look at the pyramids. That’s what makes it special,” said Figarelle,
“It stands for many things,” she added. “Getting married there sets the tone for our lives together.”
Alaska is among the more than 40 U.S. states where same-sex marriage is not recognized. The couple, who are both personal trainers who met while students at the University of Alaska, had been planning to marry in New York when Figarelle spotted the contest to wed at the Empire State Building while searching for wedding venues in New York.
“It was a shot in the dark,” said Figarelle, adding that her mother, and her brother from Montana were due to attend the ceremony.
As part of their winnings each couple received a customized wedding, gown and tuxedo and a two-night stay at the Pierre Hotel in New York. Same-sex marriage is expected to generate an estimated $284 million for the state economy, according to the Independent Democratic Conference report.
The 29-year-old Figarelle (left) and the 24-year-old McArthur both work as personal trainers in Anchorage. Ironically, right now, the couple who can be legally married in New York, could also legally be fired from their jobs, denied use of public accommodations, or housing simply because they are gay.
Proposition 5 on the Anchorage Municipal ballot, if passed on April 3, would change that. Let’s hope Anchorage starts to catch up.
That’s one heck of a glamor shot! Congratulations to the lucky couple.
This warms my heart. I celebrate love; not exclusion, fear, and hate. Congratulations to this couple! Alaska! Get with the program!
Congratulations and best wishes to the happy and gorgeous couple!
Gorgeous couple.
I live for the day when I can hear people say that they know and they care for everyone. Its a long way there,its a long way to where I’m going. It would be a better world if a loving couple would be allowed to share their love as a loving couple without the asterisk dernoting them as a same sex couple. I hope their marriage outlasts all their critics.
From the ADN:
Celia Milton, the interfaith minister who married them, said Figarelle invited McArthur out to see a drag show and McArthur thought she meant a drag race. “Needless to say she was quite surprised,” Milton said.
Does that story make sense to anyone? Makes it sound like McArthur had no idea she was gay. And who has ever heard of a drag race in Alaska? If I ever get married, it’s going to be by someone who knows me and can get the story right.
We do have at least one IHRA sanctioned 1/4 mile drag strip in Alaska, located in the Mat-Su Valley.
In any case, the wedding gown was gorgeous.
Best wishes to the happy couple.
the most beautiful of couples…and dressed to the nines. love the attire and so happy that they won the contest.
Congratulations and best wishes to the lovely couple. Happy Lupercalia, everyone!
Wishing them a long and happy marriage. And a special congratulations from this NYer!
My niece married a guy; she found out she could not have children; she got depressed; they divorced. She met a girl; they fell in love; they are planning their second child; they are very happy. It remains to be seen how they will explain to the children that their bio-father is their “father’s” brother who was himself raised by the children’s “father” which technically makes the bio-father their uncle thus making their “father” actually their aunt. But what the hell, that’s the kids’ problem to wrap their heads around.