Commitment & Domestic Partnership Ceremonies



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With Many Customized commitment ceremonies and weddings each year, mostly by recommendation, Reverend Leslie Harry is able to provide a commitment ceremony that is specialized to each couple's needs. He will design a ceremony that will incorporate as much tradition, or be untraditional, as much religion or no religion, be spiritual or non spiritual. Reverend Leslie believes that it is your day and the ceremony has to be exactly the way you want it.

Reverend Leslie performs all kinds of commitment ceremonies and weddings, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Interfaith, Co-Officiate, Humanist, Native American, Civil, Hindu, Muslim, and any combination of these.

Reverend Leslie is dedicated to giving couples what they want instead of the "off the shelf" or "me too" kinds of ceremonies. They can include lovely heart centered prayers that can include both family and friends. Reverend Leslie is is renowned for his spiritual Candle Ceremonies, which many couples enjoy incorporating into their service. Reverend Leslie has unique vows and ring ceremonies that most times brings tears to the eyes of the couple, and the assembly.

Art of Commitment

  • The little things are the big things.
  • It is never being too old to hold hands.
  • It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
  • It is never going to sleep angry.
  • It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years.
  • It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
  • It is standing together facing the world.
  • It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
  • It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,but in the spirit of joy.
  • It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
  • It is not expecting one partner to wear a halo or the other to have wings of an angel.
  • It is not looking for perfection in each other.
  • It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
  • It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
  • It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
  • It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
  • It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
  • It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
  • It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

Same-Sex Marriage

Many gay and lesbian couples have taken marriage vows, some in private ceremonies with personal commitments, others in public with the sanction of their religious and/or social communities.

With many employers now providing domestic partner benefits, and some jurisdictions offering registration of domestic partners, many gay and lesbian couples seek to take the next logical step of having their marriages legally sanctioned by the state in which they live.

A recent Supreme Court ruling in Vermont requiring equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation led the Vermont Legislature to address the issue. They have now led the nation by creating a form of Civil Union which, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, covers the following:

  • Property -- Civil-union partners will be entitled to joint title and property transfer tax benefits.
  • Divorce -- Partners seeking to dissolve a civil union must go through family court just as married spouses seeking a divorce.
  • Lawsuits -- Someone in a civil union can sue for the wrongful death of a partner, including emotional distress and loss of consortium caused by a partner's death or injury.
  • Inheritance -- Property will be transferred from one partner to the other upon death. Probate law and procedures governing spouses will apply to civil union partners.
  • Adoption -- Same-sex couples are already allowed to adopt under Vermont law, but the law will now direct the identical protections available to married couples to civil union couples.
  • Taxes -- State tax provisions applied to married couples will also apply to civil union partners.
  • Discrimination -- Laws prohibiting discrimination based on marital status would apply to civil union couples.
  • Compensation -- Civil union partners would receive the same treatment as married spouses under worker's compensation and victim's compensation law.
  • Health care -- Partners can make the same medical decisions for each other that spouses now make. Hospital visitation and notification will be the same as for spouses.
  • Testimony -- Partners, like spouses, will not be compelled to testify against one another.
  • Definitions -- State laws that confer benefits or rights to people based on their marital or family status -- such as family leave, family landowner or family farmer benefits -- will include civil unions.

In what has become a highly-contested issue across the country, the battle is on between political opponents who seek to either legalize same-sex marriages or to deny those rights to anyone other than couples of the opposite sex. This issue promises to be a lively one, as the debate in other states rages on.

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