Hawaii and Delaware on Sunday joined the ranks of states allowing same-sex civil unions. Couples stayed up late on New Year’s Eve in order to be among the first to marry in 2012. “We really don’t want to wait any longer because we have been together for 33 years waiting for the opportunity and our rights and everything that goes with it,” said Donna Gedge, who was wither her partner, Monica Montgomery, in Honolulu.
Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island recognize same-sex civil unions, with Hawaii and Delaware bringing the number of states to five. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia. In Delaware, the new law became effective at 10 a.m.
