First same sex marriage ceremony at county courthouse

HOUGHTON — A same sex couple from Hancock are the first to get married at the Houghton County Courthouse. ABC 10 and the CW 5 was in attendance.

Antonio Cuevas and Dustin Thomas have been waiting for seven years to tie the knot. At a small ceremony outside the Houghton County Courthouse, their wait ended.

Theirs is the first same sex marriage to be performed by the magistrate at the courthouse in Houghton County following the recent landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dustin said, “We’ve always considered ourselves together in a couple but having the legal rights-being able to jointly adopt Caleb, being able to have rights at the hospital to make decisions for each other, being able to share health insurance-those are complications that have been tough for us.”

Caleb is Dustin’s seven-year-old biological son.

Both men are from California but now live on a small farm in Hancock. They followed the legal battle for the right to get married but never considered themselves activists.

Dustin said, “We have our lives that we have to live. Taking care of Caleb, his job, running the farm that we have, you know, we’ve got other things but for this to happen is just a great day.”