U.S. Department of Labor Hosts Same-Sex Wedding Under the Stars

The Frances Perkins Building, where the U.S. Department of Labor is headquartered, has a new distinction:  It is apparently the first Cabinet-level federal building to host a wedding of a same-sex couple.

Paul Bedard, writing in the Washington Examiner, reported that the Labor Department’s rooftop deck at the base of Capitol Hill was the setting September 18 for a wedding between a regional solicitor and his longtime partner.  The reception which followed was held in a conference room in the federal offices.

A government official confirmed that the wedding occurred, but Labor Secretary Thomas Perez did not attend.

Bedard reported that the wedding marked the latest demonstration by the administration and prominent Washingtonians to endorse and support same sex marriage. Before the wedding at the Frances Perkins Building at the base of Capitol Hill, Perez ordered that legally married same-sex couples be offered the same federal rights as other married couples when it comes to pensions, 401(k)s, health plans and other employee benefits, even if they live in states that don’t recognize their union.

As for the American people, whose taxes pay for government buildings and officials’ salaries:  Tough rocks.  Displays of religious symbols (such as a crucifix) are regarded with suspicion; so the White House requested that Georgetown, a Catholic university, cover over the monogram “IHS”—symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—when President Obama spoke at the university.  But as for secularist ceremonies celebrating same-sex “marriage”?  They will occur on public property whether you like it or not.