Area’s first same-sex wedding conducted in Opelousas

BY CLAUDETTE OLIVIER, LSN STAFF WRITER
Their relationship may be a 45-year-old history, but John Arabie and George White made history Tuesday morning as the first same-sex couple to be married in St. Landry Parish.
“I remember the day we met very well,” Arabie said as he filled out the paperwork to purchase a marriage license at the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court’s Office in the Eunice Municipal Complex Tuesday morning.
“We met at a party in Houston. I pointed to him as he was getting a drink and told a friend sitting with me that he was my next boyfriend. She laughed at me and said, ‘Yeah, right.’”
“We met in December and moved in together in March. He could not wait. I’ve learned so much from him. We are total opposites. He is a sports fanatic, and I hate sports. He’s an only child, and there are 10 children in my family.”
Arabie, 65, is originally from Richard, and White, 84, is a native of Grand Saline, Texas. They moved back to Louisiana to take care of Arabie’s late mother, and they have lived in Eunice for 10 years.
White is a former electrical supply house salesman, and Arabie has been in the insurance business for several years.
“It’s not a shotgun wedding,” Smith said, laughing, as he and Arabie made their way into city hall.
The couple arrived at the clerk of court’s office at 9:40 a.m. to make sure they had all the paperwork to obtain their marriage license.
“Do you need my father’s name?” Arabie asked Linda Brown, deputy clerk of court, as he filled out paperwork. “He would be shocked to see that I am getting married. My mom would be excited.”
In the rush, Arabie had left his glasses in the car, and a stranger offered his to Arabie.
“You don’t know better than to get married by now,” the stranger said, laughing.
“You don’t know how excited we are,” Arabie told the man “This is the first time it is legal for us to marry.”
“The tears started flowing (when news broke Friday of the Supreme Court ruling),” Arabie continued. “It’s such a relief. People really have no idea how significant this is to us. I’ve been on the phone every day with Linda. She guided me through the whole process. I’d never been married and didn’t know what to do. I called the clerk of courts when the news broke, but they said they weren’t issuing licenses yet.”
“I hope the justice of peace will get to do much more.”
“We can give you a list of names of some more couples if you are looking for more business,” White told Joseph Wayne Doucet, justice of the peace in Acadia Parish, Ward 2, Precinct C. “We never thought this would happen. It’s so amazing. I’m going to give John my class ring from 1948. I got it 67 years ago.”
“We’ve been shacking up for a long time,” White added, laughing.
Their long wait was made up for by a short, sweet, laughter and tear-filled ceremony, and two members of the media served as the couple’s witnesses.
“You are mine now — you are not going anywhere,” Arabie said, laughing, after he politely kissed White.
As Arabie filled out a few more papers, White said he has watched the news every day since last week as parishes around the state began selling the licenses to same-sex couples.
Both men are gay rights activists and members of ACT UP and Queer Nation, and both have marched for civil rights.
“We have fought for this for a long time, and we finally get to taste a bit of it,” Arabie said. “I can’t begin to tell you how it feels. Thank you President Obama for getting the ball rolling and to Joe Biden. Without them I don’t think this would have come to fruition. We never backed down. It feels pretty good. We always hoped and never gave up. We are in favor of equal rights for everybody.”
“Now we plan to move into a home in a good school district,” White said, laughing, and everyone in the clerk of courts office burst out laughing and clapping.
The newlyweds planned to have lunch at an area Mexican restaurant as their post-wedding celebration.
Last year there were 590 marriage licenses issued in St. Landry Parish, and that number will likely increase this year with the legalization of same-sex marriage.
“We had two phone calls today but no one has come by to get married,” said St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court Charles Jagneaux. “I don’t think it’s historic. There are lots of other things going on in the parish. It is historic for some people, but it’s a footnote in history as far as I know.”
“How long they (Arabie and White) have been together is interesting. Wow.”
According to Jagneaux, those able to preside over a wedding, like justices of the peace or judges, are not under any obligation to perform a wedding ceremony in any case. St. Landry Parish did not begin issuing same sex-marriage licenses immediately following Friday’s ruling under the advisement of the Louisiana Clerk of Courts Association.
“We looked into it further and there was a possibility that the office could face legal liability by not issuing them immediately,” he said. “It looks like we got the wrong information from the (Louisiana Clerk of Courts) Association is what happened.”