When Benjamin Breese first heard the news, he couldn’t believe it.
“I will admit, I’m not a real crier, but when I heard the news yesterday, I broke out in tears,” he said.
Breese said he’s thrilled same-sex couples can legally marry in Kansas. It’s been a moment he and his partner have waited for several years. The two celebrated their lives in a civil ceremony last year, but he’s ready to make it official.
“So the waiting period’s Monday, so I can’t wait. It’s finally here after all this time,” Breese said.
On Monday, many couples will be able to legally marry in the State of Kansas.
In honor of those who have waited for so long, more than 10 members of the Wichita clergy will conduct a mass wedding ceremony. The historic moment will fall on the footsteps of the Historic Sedgwick County Courthouse on the 500th block of north Main. The wedding will take place at 5 p.m. Monday on the west side of the building.
“Some of them have been together, years and years, decades. To finally have that opportunity, this is a huge, huge day,” said Carolyn Schwarz, senior minister of Pine Valley Christian Church.
“We don’t want to make any extra expense or any extra hoops that they have to jump through and make it easy as possible,” echoed Jackie Carter, pastor of the First Metropolitan Community Church. “What a great thing that they won’t have to spend all of these days feeling less than. That they can right away be honored and respected as equal partners.”
Carter said if anyone wants to participate in the mass-wedding, they need to bring a marriage certificate to the old courthouse. People should arrive by 4:45 p.m., so the clergy has time to gather paperwork.
In addition to Monday evening’s ceremony, Fantasy Complex, located at 3201 S Hillside St., will have an reception open to the public. It will include cake, mints, dancing — all the traditional wedding fixtures, said co-owner Kelley Hoffman.
“We’ve had gay weddings, straight weddings,” Hoffman said. “We’ve had a lot of different type of celebrations, so after all of these years to be able to say, ‘And now we’re a part of another historic moment that we have waited for, and that we have actually prayed for and wished for all this time’ — to actually be a part of that — it just means the world to us, absolutely just means the world to us.”