CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 5 (UPI) -- Seven gay and lesbian North Carolina couples held a news conference in Charlotte to announce they had been legally married Sunday -- in Washington.
The couples were joined Monday by several clergymen and women, including the three women who presided at the group wedding, The Charlotte Observer reported. The three were a Reform Jewish rabbi and ministers from the Unitarian Universalist Church and United Church of Christ.
The event was also a celebration of the seven marriages. Participants called on North Carolina to join the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont in legalizing same-sex marriage.
A number of other states allow same-sex couples to formalize civil unions and a few recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions.
As one sign that homosexuals do not feel completely comfortable in North Carolina, one woman who talked to reporters would identify her spouse only by her first name, while a man would not give either his or his husband's full name.
