(Photo Credit: @TakaoYamada25.)

Though distribution of same-sex marriage certificates began in Washington on Thursday, the state’s three-day waiting period prevented actual weddings from taking place until Sunday. One of the first couples to marry just after midnight on Sunday morning (pictured above) was ironically married by Judge Mary Yu, who volunteered to take the late shift.

Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) noted the momentous occasion on The Huffington Post Sunday:

We have few occasions in life to be witness to extraordinary history. This is one of those days. Today same-sex couples in Washington are getting married under a law approved by the voters. For the first time in the United States, their marriage is legal not because of actions by legislatures or courts but because their equal rights were affirmed by their peers across the state at the ballot box. That shift is momentous and one of which I am incredibly proud. [...]

As my own daughters taught me, this is indeed the civil rights issue of our time. There will come a time when, across our country, the ability to marry the person you love will not be an issue. Future generations will look back and wonder why we ever denied this basic human right. We can’t rest until that moment. I will be with you every step of the way.

See many more photos from the day’s celebration from Seattle Gay News, The Seattle Times, and the many marriages that took place at Seattle City Hall.

Among the couples who married yesterday was Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller. The two married in Canada in 2005, but were eager to recommit their vows to each other in their home state and home country. And according to Savage, they planned to celebrate afterward.

(Photo Credit: kateleroux/Instagram)

Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) is urging young voters in New Jersey to “reach out” to Gov. Chris Christie (R) on the issue of marriage equality, just days after signing legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington State.

Gregoire has written a letter to Christie detailing her own evolution on the issue as a practicing Catholic and asked the New Jersey lawmaker to “please give me a call” to discuss the matter. Christie has thus far ignored the correspondence and pledged to swiftly veto the same-sex marriage bill making its way through New Jersey’s legislature in order to “move on to the things the people of New Jersey say are most important to them.”

“I have not heard from [Christie],” Gregoire told Michael Castner of Wall Street Journal’s The Daily Wrap in an interview yesterday, but suggested that young people could still convince the governor to change his mind:

CASTNER: Do you think you’re going to hear from him? Do you think there is any change of heart he may have?

GREGOIRE: You know, I dont know, now that he has been as adamant as he has been, but I do know what really reached me and that is the younger generation who really have fundamentally come to believe that this is the civil rights issue of their generation. Much like my generation so racial equality as the civil rights issue of my generation, we’re by no means done. So, if the younger generation of the state could reach out to him, I think that that would probably be the most effective way to do it.

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Gregoire also responded to Christie’s suggestion that the state is too busy with economic issues to focus on same-sex marriage legislation, noting, “We multi-task all the time. And surely we put equality as a priority in whatever legislative session we’re in and whatever time we’re in, but I know that now is the time for us.”

The New Jersey Senate passed the measure earlier this week and the Assembly is expected to take up the marriage bill on Thursday.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) hopes to put the politically delicate question of same-sex marriage behind him and is prepared to swiftly veto a bill extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians, even if it means ignoring the arguments of proponents.

ThinkProgress has learned that Christie has yet to respond to a letter from fellow Governor Chris Gregoire (D-WA) offering the blunt-speaking Christie advise on the issue. In the letter, dated Jan. 31, 2012, Gregoire wrote, “I have been on a personal journey, because while I am a Governor, I am also a Catholic.” “If you would like to talk, please give me a call.” The correspondence also contained a copy of Gregoire’s remarks upon announcing her support for marriage equality. Gregoire has received “no response to date,” her office confirms. Below is a copy of the letter:

Rather than considering equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, however, Christie has largely dismissed his critics and called for a state referendum on the issue. During a press conference yesterday, the New Jersey governor referred to the senate’s passage of same-sex marriage bill as “a good bunch of theater” and told lawmakers, “it’s not going to happen.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire (D-WA) was visibly emotional as she signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington, making the Evergreen State the seventh in the nation to offer marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. Suporters cheered “thank you, thank you” as Sen. Ed Murray (D) — a sponsor of the measure — introduced Gregoire and cheered “four more years!”

Gregoire shared some of the positive reaction to the passage of the measure and described the occasion as a “very proud moment” in her career:

GREGOIRE: We’re here today to make history in this great state… As governor now for over seven years, this is a very proud moment. Most surely, it is a proud day in the history of the legislature…it is a day as historians will mark as am milestone for equal rights in this state. …We stood for equality and we did it together. I’m proud of who and what we are as a state. I’m proud that our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate, but equal. They will be equal in the great state of Washington. I’m proud that the children in our schools and neighborhoods will no longer have to wonder why their loving parents are considered somewhat different than other loving parents.

As she signed the bill, at least one opponent of marriage equality yelled out, “do not betray Christ!, do not betray Christ!” The crowd’s cheers drowned him out and Gregoire pronounced, “it’s signed!” Watch a compilation:

The law will not take effect before June 7, three months after the conclusion of the legislative session. However, if opponents succeed in putting a question of marriage on the November ballot defining marriage as a union between one mand and one woman, the law would be suspended until the certification of election returns in December. Gregoire predicted that the people of the state of Washington “will say yes to marriage equality in the state of Washington” if the law is reviewed in a referendum.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) — who is scheduled to sign marriage equality legislation on Monday — has personally pledged to contact fellow Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and convince him to sign legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in New Jersey. Christie has threatened to veto the bill currently under consideration in the state legislature.

During a radio interview with Wall Street Journal’s The Daily Wrap with Michael Castner, Gregoire said she has received an outpouring of support from people around the world since coming out for equal marriage rights, including a note from a 16-year-old girl who had contemplated suicide:

GREGOIRE: One that sticks in my mind is a 16-year-old who had finally disclosed to her parents that she was lesbian and they had accepted her and she still contemplated suicide. And then to have me come out, a person in a position like I’m in to say that she’s okay and that she’s to be respected for who she is, meant the world to her.

CASTNER: I never do this, but I’m going to ask you anyway because I have an opportunity and most people don’t get to talk to governors. Would you pick up the phone and call governor Christie and tell him what you just told our audience?

GREGOIRE: Yes, I would because I feel a good working relationship with Governor Christie. I respect him as a fellow governor, I have worked with him on a number of issues, so yea, I would feel very comfortable sharing with him, my personal journey the overwhelming response that I’ve received and how good I feel about myself today and I have not felt good about this issue and about where I stood for a number of years.

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