Friends of Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert use their cellular phones to record Cook County Judge Patricia Logue signing the marriage license of Gray, and Ewert after their ceremony, the first gay marriage in Illinois, at the couple's home Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in Chicago. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin on Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, ordered the Cook County clerk to issue an expedited marriage license to Gray and Ewert before the state's gay marriage law takes effect in June 2014, because Gray is terminally ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
November 27, 2013 - 2:44 PM
CHICAGO - Two Chicago women have become the first couple to take their vows under the new same-sex marriage law in Illinois.
Patricia Ewert and Vernita Gray married in a private ceremony Wednesday, just days after a judge agreed to expedite their wedding because of Gray's terminal illness.
Illinois became the 16th state to legalize gay marriage this month. State law says the marriages can't begin until June 1.
The women, who are in their mid-60s, filed a lawsuit in federal court last week asking for an expedited marriage license because of Gray's cancer. She had surgery over the summer to remove a tumour from her brain.
A judge ordered the license Monday, and Cook County clerk officials hand-delivered it.
They have been engaged since 2009 and hoped to marry in Illinois.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013