BRIGHTON COUPLE ON 10 YEARS OF EQUAL MARRIAGE
The first same-sex couple to be married in Brighton and their registrar have reflected on 10 years of marriage equality in England and Wales.
Andrew Wale and Neil Allard were the first same-sex couple to be married in Brighton at 00:01 GMT on 29 March 2014.
They joined couples across the country who married the minute after the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act passed into law.
Mr Wale said he wanted to make sure their wedding "didn’t just turn into a celebration of romance" because it "is more than that".
'Hundreds of people'
Mr Wale and Mr Allard won a competition to be the first same-sex couple married in the city at the Brighton Royal Pavilion.
"We chose them because they had their first date at the Royal Pavilion, which we thought was quite sweet," explained their registrar Trevor Love.
Mr Love, now retired, officiated at the city's first civil partnerships in 2005.
He remembers how "hundreds of people" stood outside the Pavilion waiting for Mr Wale and Mr Allard.
"To see the support from the general public was really lovely," Mr Love explained.
However, a couple of months before the wedding, Mr Wale remembers his friends were "beaten up in the street" for holding hands.
"I hope equal marriage has helped that situation," Mr Wale said.
“Nothing is particularly solved, but I think things have improved certainly in 10 years," he added.
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