Lesbian Power Couple Finally Ties The Knot

BY AJ Trager

LANSING – A lesbian power couple who have worked hard to improve LGBT equality in the state, Gina Calcagno and Nicolette Siragusa, have finally tied the knot.
"We are thrilled that we were able to solemnize, legally, today, what we have been living for the past 10 years. It is our hope that we are one of the last couples to go through the trials of uncertain legal standing in our own relationship," Calcagno told BTL.
Calcagno, former coalition manager of Michigan for Marriage, and Siragusa, a pastor with the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Grand Ledge, were finally married Oct. 1 before the Lansing City Capitol building after 15 years together.
Calcagno joined Michigan For Marriage in January and was pivotal in spreading the stories of many same-sex couples in the state who were eagerly awaiting the right to marry. Over the course of their partnership, Calcagno and Siragusa have been very active in establishing equal rights for same-sex couples in the Christian community and under state law. Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June, Siragusa has officiated the weddings of dozens of same-sex couples, many of whom who have been together for decades.
Ten years ago they signed a domestic partnership in Cook County, Illinois, followed by a civil union in New Jersey in 2007. They held a church wedding a year later in Illinois. After moving to Michigan, Calcagno and Siragusa were one of the first to sign a domestic partnership in East Lansing in 2013.
The Oct. 1 ceremony was officiated by Nathan Triplett, mayor of East Lansing, who quoted part of the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy in the same-sex marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges.
"While I'm proud that East Lansing provided an opportunity for recognition of loving relationships through our (domestic partnership) registry, I'm even more pleased that couples like Gina and Nicolette now have the equal marriage rights that they deserve and that our Constitution demands," Triplett wrote on his Facebook.