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Joe Biden Officiates His First-Ever Wedding: Ordained VP Wed A Gay Couple At His Official Residence In Washington

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 07:25 PST, Aug 2, 2016

American Vice President Joe Biden officiated his first wedding. The recently ordained VP chose to wed a gay couple at his official residence.

United States Vice President Joe Biden presided over his first-ever wedding on August 1. One of the earliest proponents of same-sex marriages, Biden chose to officiate the wedding of Joe Mahshie and Brian Mosteller. To make things as official as possible, the vice president even got a certification from the District of Colombia.

Both the members of the elated gay couple are longtime White House aides. While Brian Mosteller is the director of Oval Office operations, Joe Mashie is a trip coordinator for Michelle Obama. The wedding took place at Joe Biden’s official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., reported CNN. Apparently, the two longtime staffers had made a heartfelt request to the vice president asking him to be the officiating minister at their wedding, reported LGBTQ Nation.

The former Delaware senator later tweeted a photo of the ceremony with the caption, “Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”

Biden’s office confirmed that the wedding ceremony was attended only by the grooms’ families. The ceremony took place in the spacious living room of Biden’s residence.

Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, later tweeted, “Love is love!”

The vice president’s official photographer, David Lienemann, retweeted Biden’s tweet with the caption, “Congrats to Brian and Joe!”

It is quite likely that small but undoubtedly beautiful ceremony was captured in everlasting photographs by Lienemann.

Will Joe Biden officiate weddings going forward? While the vice president’s office hasn’t shed any light on the prospects of couples, especially same-sex ones, being allowed to approach Joe Biden to officiate their weddings, the chances look pretty slim. This wedding appears to be a one-off case primarily because Biden wasn’t perpetually ordained.

Biden has never officiated any wedding. According to BuzzFeed, Joe Biden had secured a special temporary certification from the District of Columbia to officiate the same-sex wedding. The ceremony took place one year after the U.S. government legalized gay marriage, reported the Independent.

The Naval Observatory isn’t a stranger to weddings. Back when Al Gore was the vice president, the place was decked out for Gore’s daughter, who celebrated her marriage in 1997. According to CNN, unlike the gay wedding Biden officiated, the Al Gore affair was quite large. An air-conditioned tent erected on the lawn featured Aretha Franklin entertaining the guests.

Current U.S. President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, have always endorsed the legalization of nationwide same-sex marriage. Biden had strongly supported the widely criticized point in 2012 when Obama was running for reelection. It is likely that the sudden announcement from Biden pressurized Obama to quickly declare his own support within a few short days.

In the profile piece by the Washington Post, Brian Mosteller confirmed that he never hid is sexual orientation. He had been open with Obama since the beginning of the campaign for the White House.

“When I was young, I couldn’t fathom that I could ever have a partner, and now I was with the president of the United States, and together, we were talking this kind of partnership, and it was not only public but so very normal.”

Speaking about the unorthodox and humanitarian approach of Barack Obama, who considers same-sex couples to be as important to the fabric of the society as heterosexual ones, Mosteller added, “How often does a boss talk about love? Now, how often does a boss contribute to our country’s blessing of your love?”

[Photo by Saul Loeb/Getty Images]

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