:00:00. > :00:19.This programme contains flash photography. You are husband and
:00:20. > :00:22.husband. You may now kiss the groom. It's a historical moment, one of the
:00:23. > :00:27.first same`sex marriages to take place in England or Wales. H know
:00:28. > :00:30.it's happened but it's going to take a while to actually compute that we
:00:31. > :00:33.are husband and husband. John and Bernardo's wedding places them on a
:00:34. > :00:39.legal par with married heterosexuals in every way. But their wedding
:00:40. > :00:47.would have been unthinkable just 50 years ago. Do you think homosexuals
:00:48. > :00:51.should be sent to prison? Yds. They were screaming abuse at me `nd then
:00:52. > :00:55.they really started to beat me with truncheons. I didn't understand why
:00:56. > :01:00.I was apparently so different from other people and I tried to kill
:01:01. > :01:03.myself. Tonight we follow the couple who the papers have dubbed the
:01:04. > :01:09.poster boys of gay marriage in the run`up to their big day. And through
:01:10. > :01:12.the personal testimony of older gay men and lesbians, we reveal how
:01:13. > :01:16.hundreds were imprisoned, threatened with electric shock therapy and even
:01:17. > :01:17.tortured in a bid to rid society of what many believed was a crhme
:01:18. > :01:38.against nature. What's your favourite dish that I
:01:39. > :01:47.cook? I love all the things that you do in the oven. The last fish pie
:01:48. > :01:51.that you did was very good. Bernardo and myself are very much products of
:01:52. > :01:55.modern times in the sense that we met on the internet. We met nearly
:01:56. > :01:58.six years ago and we've been living together since then. Bernardo is one
:01:59. > :02:08.of the nicest, gentlest, authentic people I've ever met. He's just
:02:09. > :02:15.really easy going. Makes my life very easy and very happy. H`lf a
:02:16. > :02:18.century ago, when John was born England was an entirely different
:02:19. > :02:20.place. Two men openly living together in a homosexual
:02:21. > :02:29.relationship would have been hugely controversial. For many of ts this
:02:30. > :02:35.is revolting. Men dancing whth men. Homosexuals in this country break
:02:36. > :02:39.the law. It meant that many gay men led bleak, secret lives and those
:02:40. > :02:45.who didn't were often persecuted. Nowhere was this more true than in
:02:46. > :02:51.the army. It was the biggest mistake of my life to go into the army. I
:02:52. > :02:56.was in the prison cell in Aldershot. They started to beat me and beat me
:02:57. > :02:59.with truncheons. In 1958, John Crawford had to leave his boyfriend
:03:00. > :03:07.when he was called up to do National Service. As he trained to sdrve
:03:08. > :03:12.Queen and country he knew that to be exposed as a homosexual would result
:03:13. > :03:18.in severe consequences. Tod`y for the first time, he's returnhng to
:03:19. > :03:24.his former army camp in Alddrshot. I was so much on my own, even though I
:03:25. > :03:27.was in the army. Until one day a guy turned up and I made friends with
:03:28. > :03:39.him, and we were nothing else except friends. But the military police
:03:40. > :03:43.suspected them of being mord than just pals. John was arrested and
:03:44. > :03:49.then tortured. I was put into a police cell. I was not allowed to
:03:50. > :03:52.sit on my bed every time thd guards changed they banged their truncheons
:03:53. > :03:58.down the sides of the cell. So I couldn't possibly sleep. Thdy
:03:59. > :04:02.started to beat me. They were determined to break me or they'd
:04:03. > :04:06.have killed me one way or another and I admitted that, yes, I was
:04:07. > :04:11.going with somebody but it was a guy that was nothing to with thd army.
:04:12. > :04:18.That confession led to him being formally charged. A lack of evidence
:04:19. > :04:22.meant the case was dismissed. Yet John was forced to complete his
:04:23. > :04:26.National Service. There was something like 2000`3000 guxs in the
:04:27. > :04:33.camp at that time. And everx single one of them knew me as the dffing
:04:34. > :04:38.queer. And I had to live with this and I must admit, when I look back
:04:39. > :04:45.on it now, I did try and colmit suicide. During the 50s, men like
:04:46. > :04:47.John were systematically targeted by the authorities and the
:04:48. > :04:56.decriminalisation of certain homosexual acts in 1967 did little
:04:57. > :05:02.to change things. I grew up in a time when homosexuality was to some
:05:03. > :05:07.extent on the fringes of society. So having gone from that to behng the
:05:08. > :05:14.first to get married is... H don't know if I can actually comprehend
:05:15. > :05:21.that really, fully. With eight weeks to go before they say I do, the
:05:22. > :05:24.nerves are beginning to set in. I am nervous about getting marridd
:05:25. > :05:28.because we're going into thd unknown but we are doubly nervous bdcause
:05:29. > :05:33.it's the first time two men have got married in this country and that's
:05:34. > :05:39.unprecedented. Just thinking about it, it's a big responsibility. A big
:05:40. > :05:47.decision in your life. They're reaffirming their commitment to the
:05:48. > :05:50.wedding by choosing their rhngs We are looking for wedding rings.
:05:51. > :05:56.Fantastic. Are you going for matching bands? We just had a look
:05:57. > :06:00.at your window and there ard two or three that we quite like. You like
:06:01. > :06:04.that? I do like that. They `re the same but different. I quite like
:06:05. > :06:08.that. John and Bernardo's wddding has been a long time in the
:06:09. > :06:11.planning. They first contacted their local registry office months before
:06:12. > :06:16.the Government even announcdd that gay ceremonies were to be m`de
:06:17. > :06:20.legal. I got to know John over the summertime and he more or ldss made
:06:21. > :06:24.it clear to me that he definitely wanted to be the first to h`ve a
:06:25. > :06:34.same sex marriage whenever the law or the change was implementdd. But
:06:35. > :06:37.signing up to be the countrx's Britain's first gay grooms has
:06:38. > :06:40.caused them to rethink their wedding plans. One of the first couples to
:06:41. > :06:43.exchange vows will be John Coffey and his Spanish fiance, Bernardo
:06:44. > :06:46.Marti. John Coffey and Bern`rdo Marti from London are with ts.. Our
:06:47. > :06:50.idea originally of the weddhng was just to be my partner, myself and a
:06:51. > :06:55.couple of friends. Because we have been in the press, suddenly
:06:56. > :07:01.everybody wanted to join us. It means their guests list has now
:07:02. > :07:04.grown from two to 60. Did you ever think you'd see the day when you
:07:05. > :07:09.were writing your own wedding invitations? It's a far cry from a
:07:10. > :07:16.time when those in same`sex relationships were locked away and
:07:17. > :07:19.considered mentally ill. People were committing suicide and it w`s still
:07:20. > :07:24.quite a popular opinion that it was something that could be corrected.
:07:25. > :07:28.At the age of 14 Roger Juer's parents sent him to a psychhatric
:07:29. > :07:34.ward in a desperate attempt to cure him of homosexuality. I was
:07:35. > :07:39.initially given hypnosis. How exactly it was supposed to work I
:07:40. > :07:43.don't know but it didn't work. So then they tried something else which
:07:44. > :07:47.was the use of an emetic, and they were giving me something whhch
:07:48. > :07:50.actually made me throw up when I saw pictures of men, or when thdy
:07:51. > :07:54.presented pictures of men. That s as far as my therapy went but other
:07:55. > :07:57.people did have all sorts of things like electric shock therapy, which
:07:58. > :08:01.was suggested for me. These dubious attempts to cure homosexuals
:08:02. > :08:04.continued in the UK for dec`des I was 16 and that was 1972 whdn I
:08:05. > :08:10.formed a passionate friendship with another young woman and I dhdn't
:08:11. > :08:13.think of it as lesbian. We weren't doing anything sexually but the
:08:14. > :08:22.school became concerned and at that point they called my mother in and I
:08:23. > :08:29.was taken out of school. Celia began to fear that she might be a lesbian.
:08:30. > :08:33.Being bookish I went to the library and I looked up the word lesbian and
:08:34. > :08:36.what the book said was that lesbians were mentally ill, that thex came
:08:37. > :08:43.from dysfunctional families, that they were perhaps somewhere between
:08:44. > :08:45.men and women, not real womdn. Disturbed by what she had rdad, she
:08:46. > :08:52.became increasingly isolated, depressed. I didn't underst`nd what
:08:53. > :08:53.was happening or why I was apparently so different frol other
:08:54. > :09:04.people and I tried to kill lyself. They fished me out of a rivdr full
:09:05. > :09:10.of alcohol and drugs in the middle of the night and took me to the
:09:11. > :09:12.mental hospital. Hundreds of women were placed in psychiatric
:09:13. > :09:17.institutions simply for expressing their love for another woman.
:09:18. > :09:21.Psychotherapy was the gentldst option but there were also what were
:09:22. > :09:23.known as behavioural treatmdnts for sexual orientation at that time
:09:24. > :09:31.which included things like dlectric shock treatment. In some rare cases
:09:32. > :09:38.lobotomies were performed to remove sections of women's brains. Other
:09:39. > :09:42.lesbians got raped in order to turn them into heterosexuals. I was lucky
:09:43. > :09:46.in that I didn't have brain surgeries or any of the othdr sorts
:09:47. > :09:50.of things that were being done. But when I left the mental hosphtal I
:09:51. > :09:57.was very angry at what had been done to me. Do you want aversion therapy?
:09:58. > :10:01.No! Do you want psychiatric aid No! By the mid`70s the idea that being
:10:02. > :10:08.lesbian or gay was curable began to be challenged by an emerging gay
:10:09. > :10:12.rights movement. The aims of the GLF were to go out and just say, "We are
:10:13. > :10:20.here, we are queer and therd's nothing wrong with us. And G`A`Y
:10:21. > :10:22.stands for as good as you". Yet for homosexuals living outside central
:10:23. > :10:28.London, survival still depended on hiding their sexuality. Growing up
:10:29. > :10:32.in an Irish Catholic home and realising you were gay pretty early
:10:33. > :10:34.on, it wasn't an easy ride. Everything around you was tdlling
:10:35. > :10:40.you were fundamentally wrong and evil I think is the word th`t's
:10:41. > :10:45.used. To atone for what John had been told was his sin of
:10:46. > :10:49.homosexuality he turned to God. At the age of 21 he became a novice
:10:50. > :10:57.friar, signing up to a life of celibacy. Today, he's returned to
:10:58. > :11:09.Chilworth Friary in Surrey. God it hasn't changed at all. I haven't
:11:10. > :11:13.been here for 32 years. When I spent my year here, for me it was a
:11:14. > :11:16.process of me facing myself. I thought if I went and joined the
:11:17. > :11:19.church and became a Franciscan Friar, became a priest, somdhow that
:11:20. > :11:24.would take care of everything but I suppose I became a non`sexu`l being.
:11:25. > :11:30.But suppressing his true iddntity didn't work. This new Friar turned
:11:31. > :11:38.up and I remember just seeing him for the first time and thinking oh,
:11:39. > :11:42.my god. And it really was that something in his eyes and I began to
:11:43. > :11:46.fall in love with him. John embarked on a relationship that lastdd six
:11:47. > :11:57.years and spelt the end of his religious life. One of the strange
:11:58. > :12:00.things about being here was that it protected me from what was going on
:12:01. > :12:05.in the gay community at the time, HIV. Was it the right decishon to
:12:06. > :12:10.leave this? Absolutely. I fdll in love. I think coming back hdre has
:12:11. > :12:14.made me realise that you've just got to live your life and be who you
:12:15. > :12:19.are. With just two weeks left, there is still a lot to be done bdfore the
:12:20. > :12:26.big day so John and Bernardo have come to a gay wedding show. We are
:12:27. > :12:36.thinking about a cake. Is that fruit cake? That's very cute. This is just
:12:37. > :12:40.one of around 20 gay wedding shows staged in the last two months,
:12:41. > :12:43.catering for the growing nulbers of same`sex couples who can now be
:12:44. > :12:46.legally wed. But gay interest in the sanctity and tradition of m`rriage
:12:47. > :12:56.is not new. There's a particular case form the News Chronicld in
:12:57. > :12:59.1954. The bridegroom was a woman. Dressed as a man, 26`year`old Violet
:13:00. > :13:02.Ellen Katherine Jones was m`rried in a church to Joan Leigh aged 21.
:13:03. > :13:05.Curator Stefan Dickers has tncovered evidence that gay men and women have
:13:06. > :13:09.secretly been getting marridd for decades. She wore blue trousers a
:13:10. > :13:12.fawn raincoat and a light blue scarf, carried thick leather gloves
:13:13. > :13:14.and her hair was cropped close. We have stuff from local press,
:13:15. > :13:18.national press, documenting cases where people have felt themselves so
:13:19. > :13:21.desperate and in need to make that commitment to their partner, that
:13:22. > :13:26.they've gone to extreme lengths to do so.
:13:27. > :13:32.John and Bernardo are hoping to be the first gay couple to be legally
:13:33. > :13:42.wed and with only 13 days to go we've reached a key moment. 9am at
:13:43. > :13:46.Westminster's registry office. Hi, good morning. It's the first day gay
:13:47. > :13:50.partners can officially givd notice of their intent to be marridd. Today
:13:51. > :13:54.you are here to give your ldgal intent to marry. That means that you
:13:55. > :13:58.are both over the legal age consent. The fifth impediment has now gone
:13:59. > :14:01.which was you had to be of different genders. Good. It's now obsolete, as
:14:02. > :14:05.of now. Ensuring that the bdtrothed are of opposite sex may be ` thing
:14:06. > :14:10.of the past but the tradition of questioning them individually
:14:11. > :14:14.remains. So John, I need to ask you some questions about the man that
:14:15. > :14:18.you intend to marry. Yes. For Bernardo it's a tense wait. Well,
:14:19. > :14:21.I'm a bit nervous because they are going to ask me questions about my
:14:22. > :14:25.partner, about John. And whdn it's his turn, Bernardo has to prove just
:14:26. > :14:29.how well he really knows John. Now the man you intend to marry. What is
:14:30. > :14:41.his date of birth please? I believe it's sixth June, 1963? Not puite.
:14:42. > :14:48.Close. 62? Close. 64? The other way. 61. Yes. After a few hiccups, the
:14:49. > :14:51.couple get the all clear. On the way out, they meet two brides`to`be
:14:52. > :14:55.When are you actually getting married? On the 29th. I asstme you
:14:56. > :14:58.are as well. Yeah, same day. We re getting done on the stroke of
:14:59. > :15:01.midnight. Oh, you're that couple. We heard about you. We heard about you
:15:02. > :15:05.when I called up. Oh, that's wonderful. In our case, we `re going
:15:06. > :15:09.to be called husband and husband. Wife and wife. Yeah, we've `lready
:15:10. > :15:13.tested it out a bit, wife`to`be and all that. There are several gay and
:15:14. > :15:16.lesbian couples signing up to be married today. Many of them are
:15:17. > :15:19.aiming to be England's first same`sex partners to walk down the
:15:20. > :15:27.aisle. But technically, that title may already be taken.
:15:28. > :15:34.I met Sue in 1984. We are professional psychologists. We met
:15:35. > :15:41.at conferences. We founded ` friendship and it moved frol
:15:42. > :15:44.friendship into something else. We became a couple in 1990. Work
:15:45. > :15:49.commitments meant the coupld ended up in Canada. Canada was ch`nging
:15:50. > :15:56.its law to permit same`sex larriage and suddenly there was this
:15:57. > :16:00.possibility of getting marrhed. That is in the conservatory in bright
:16:01. > :16:05.Vancouver sunshine. The day we got married, we found when we wdre both
:16:06. > :16:09.`` we woke up and were surprisingly nervous. We had a very small
:16:10. > :16:16.ceremony at cider register `nd we were proclaimed wife and wife
:16:17. > :16:22.together. And it changed evdrything. I had not anticipated what ht would
:16:23. > :16:28.feel like to come in from the cold. I don't think I expected thd
:16:29. > :16:31.emotional intensity of it. Ht really made a difference, being married and
:16:32. > :16:34.not just a long`term couple. But when the pair returned home to
:16:35. > :16:41.Britain, they discovered thdir marriage was null and void, not
:16:42. > :16:46.legally recognised. This was before civil partnerships had been
:16:47. > :16:51.introduced, so we had no protections under law. We were back at square
:16:52. > :16:54.one, just a long`term coupld. Sue and Celia launched a high`profile
:16:55. > :16:57.legal campaign to get their marriage acknowledged in the High Cotrt,
:16:58. > :17:05.arguing that they were being discriminated against. The outcome
:17:06. > :17:09.of that was sadly we lost. The judge ruled that that discriminathon was
:17:10. > :17:12.justified, because it protected the heterosexual nuclear family. That
:17:13. > :17:17.was a very disappointing, vdry distressing time, because b`sically
:17:18. > :17:20.we had been stripped of our marriage. Yet eight years l`ter a
:17:21. > :17:23.letter arrived from the govdrnment stating that their marriage would be
:17:24. > :17:26.recognised on the 13th March this year ` a whole fortnight before any
:17:27. > :17:35.other gay couple could legally marry. Great excitement, grdat joy,
:17:36. > :17:39.really thrilled to be considered married and one of the first. We
:17:40. > :17:44.questioned whether marriage would ever be legal in our lifetile for us
:17:45. > :17:54.in this country. I can't believe that it has come so quickly. It is
:17:55. > :17:57.an amazing feeling. Cheers. But Westminster's chief registr`r has
:17:58. > :18:04.devised a plan to make John and Bernardo the first gay couple to be
:18:05. > :18:08.legally married on English soil Here in Westminster we are going to
:18:09. > :18:11.endeavour to ensure that John and Bernardo of the first coupld to have
:18:12. > :18:15.same`sex marriage. March 29th was the first time that weddings were
:18:16. > :18:20.allowed to take place at midnight and Alison planned her strategy
:18:21. > :18:24.around this relaxation of the rules. The important thing is to ensure
:18:25. > :18:29.that we get the timing is rhght We have checked our clock against the
:18:30. > :18:33.speaking clock. We are geardd up to ensuring we issue the documdnt on
:18:34. > :18:37.the stroke of midnight, or `s close to, to enable the legal words to be
:18:38. > :18:41.said as soon as the authorities issued. Our couple are shopping for
:18:42. > :18:47.wedding suits. When they exchange vows in ten days' time, it will be a
:18:48. > :18:50.symbolic victory for gay eqtality. But there are many who belidve
:18:51. > :19:02.allowing homosexuals to marry is a mistake. , sexuality somethhng that
:19:03. > :19:07.damages society, I would sax that ultimately it would. I think the
:19:08. > :19:14.situation today, where two len and two women want to be in a m`rriage
:19:15. > :19:21.relationship is completely unprecedented context. Stephen and
:19:22. > :19:25.Dennis are now married. I do, as a Christian, have strong reservations
:19:26. > :19:28.about whether that is the bdst way for society. Married with two
:19:29. > :19:37.children, Dr Davidson speaks from good experience. He was oncd gay
:19:38. > :19:41.himself. And I am ex`gay? I never use the term gay, but there was a
:19:42. > :19:49.time when my feelings for pdople of the same sex were quite strong and I
:19:50. > :19:54.stepped out of marriage, or out of my relationship with my wifd. He
:19:55. > :19:57.claims to have gone from gax to straight by using psychotherapy and
:19:58. > :20:06.religious counselling, known in some circles as "pray the gay aw`y". So
:20:07. > :20:09.tell me a bit about how things are. What He now provides this treatment
:20:10. > :20:13.to others and controversially, has even used a bus ad campaign to
:20:14. > :20:20.attract those who are unhappy with their sexuality. The What wd offer
:20:21. > :20:25.is psychotherapeutic support for men and women who want to explore the
:20:26. > :20:29.possibility, either to manage, reduce or in some cases where
:20:30. > :20:33.possible eliminate, sexual feelings. But Dr Davidson's theories have been
:20:34. > :20:34.rejected by the UK Council for Psychotherapy and his ad calpaign is
:20:35. > :20:44.the subject of a court case. As brand stylist at a garden centre,
:20:45. > :20:53.Bernardo is perfectly placed to pick the flowers for his own wedding
:20:54. > :20:58.Flowers in a wedding means love They really create a special kind of
:20:59. > :21:02.atmosphere in the venue. And with just five days left, the cotple have
:21:03. > :21:09.come to view Mayfair Librarx, the venue of their wedding. Hello there,
:21:10. > :21:15.how are you doing? Hello, Bdrnardo, nice to see you again. So, here we
:21:16. > :21:19.are. The ceremony will take place at the top, after you have walked
:21:20. > :21:23.together, hand in hand, down the aisle. We will talk about mtsic if
:21:24. > :21:32.you are planning to have music to walk into. What are your first
:21:33. > :21:36.thoughts? Very formal. We h`ve even got stained glass for you. The fact
:21:37. > :21:39.it isn't a church is the ond detail that separates gay and strahght
:21:40. > :21:42.ceremonies. Both the Church of England and the Catholic Chtrch are
:21:43. > :21:45.doctrinally opposed to the hdea of same`sex unions and they ard
:21:46. > :21:55.lawfully allowed to refuse gay couples. The Church respects
:21:56. > :21:59.everybody, whether they are homosexuals are not, but in its
:22:00. > :22:03.teaching on sex it says that sex is for marriage between a man `nd a
:22:04. > :22:08.woman. It has this vigilant of sexuality for marriage, for
:22:09. > :22:11.procreation. `` The church lay be struggling with the idea of gay
:22:12. > :22:14.equality, yet there is no doubt that the last 20 years has witnessed a
:22:15. > :22:21.radical transformation in attitudes and policies on homosexuality. This
:22:22. > :22:29.vision. The government is shortly expected to make the process of gay
:22:30. > :22:32.sex legal at 16. Two women have become `` have become the fhrst
:22:33. > :22:34.couple to take part in the civil partnership ceremony. From the
:22:35. > :22:38.dismantling of anti`gay leghslation like Clause 28, to the right to
:22:39. > :22:41.adopt children, there has bden an about`turn in the establishdd view,
:22:42. > :22:53.even in the most staid of British institutions. Tuesday 12th of June,
:22:54. > :22:58.2007, in Basra. This is a dhary from when I went to Iraq. Last nhght I
:22:59. > :23:03.had a long chat with Tom. I am lucky to have a person like Tom w`iting
:23:04. > :23:07.for me back at home. At the age of 20, James served on the front line
:23:08. > :23:11.in the Middle East as an opdnly gay man. But when he first enlisted in
:23:12. > :23:15.the Army, he was warned to hide his sexuality. The day I joined the
:23:16. > :23:19.Army, when I was 16, the person who was in charge of us during basic
:23:20. > :23:23.training made it quite clear that he did not like gay people will stop in
:23:24. > :23:27.his welcoming address he told us all, do not come out if you are gay,
:23:28. > :23:30.because this is not the place for gay people. The homophobia lade it
:23:31. > :23:33.difficult for James to inithally come out. But within a decade,
:23:34. > :23:39.prejudice against gays in the Army had been transformed. I am really
:23:40. > :23:44.pleased how the Army has ch`nged over the past ten years. Thdre are
:23:45. > :23:48.many significant achievements. In 2008, we were allowed gay pdople in
:23:49. > :23:53.the military, we were allowdd to march at London Pride in unhform. In
:23:54. > :23:56.2010 I have my civil partnership to Tom and we enjoyed our reception
:23:57. > :24:00.within the walls of the barracks, where I served in Knightsbrhdge
:24:01. > :24:03.That is an incredible changd and today, there are hundreds of lesbian
:24:04. > :24:06.and gay people in the milit`ry. James has come to the army base in
:24:07. > :24:10.Aldershot. He's meeting John, who was imprisoned and abused for being
:24:11. > :24:19.gay when he served over 50 xears ago. It has changed so much that I
:24:20. > :24:23.don't recognise anything ovdr the last 50 years. I was at North camp.
:24:24. > :24:29.It was not quite the Army I expected. I was put into thhs prison
:24:30. > :24:32.and beaten and beaten and bdaten. My coming out situation was very
:24:33. > :24:36.different. The law changed hn 2 04 gay people the military and all my
:24:37. > :24:42.colleagues were fantastically supportive. Everybody was jtst so
:24:43. > :24:47.nice. Are you pleased it has changed, that the military hs a lot
:24:48. > :24:50.further forward with this? Xes, but it hasn't gone far enough in my
:24:51. > :24:54.opinion. John has never got over the harsh treatment he endured while in
:24:55. > :24:56.service here half a century ago Incarcerated, tortured and then
:24:57. > :25:06.unfairly given a criminal rdcord, the injustices have haunted him ever
:25:07. > :25:13.since. After what I went through with the Army, I would like very
:25:14. > :25:17.much for the police to give me an apology. I know I will never get it,
:25:18. > :25:21.but I would like it, after 40 years of hassle.
:25:22. > :25:27.Life is now very different for gay men and lesbians in modern Britain,
:25:28. > :25:40.a point underlined by John `nd Bernardo's wedding day.
:25:41. > :25:47.After weeks of stress, final preparations are undertaken with
:25:48. > :25:53.military position. `` posithon. Moments before the event, Bdrnardo
:25:54. > :26:01.has something to tell John. John, I have a surprise for you. Oh, yes?
:26:02. > :26:06.Oh, wow. Do you like them? They are not the rings we chose, but... These
:26:07. > :26:12.are made from my dad's weddhng ring. Perfect.
:26:13. > :26:19.As they set off to be wed, their guests are already taking their
:26:20. > :26:22.seats. An unusual wedding from any perspective, the ceremony bdgins
:26:23. > :26:31.with a bilingual short speech by the grooms. We want to acknowledge all
:26:32. > :26:40.those people around the world who are persecuted for who they are We
:26:41. > :26:43.are now going to light a candle to remember them in this joint
:26:44. > :26:46.ceremony. Another peculiarity, John and Bernardo's heterosexual friends
:26:47. > :26:56.Jose and Anoah are also getting married here tonight, to emphasise
:26:57. > :27:01.the theme of equality. I wotld like to extend a warm welcome to you here
:27:02. > :27:04.tonight, to these very spechal wedding ceremonies, which are
:27:05. > :27:07.celebrating such a huge momdnt in the history of equality. Thd
:27:08. > :27:10.pressure is on to ensure thhs is England's first gay wedding so
:27:11. > :27:12.proceedings are halted to ensure the vows can commence just seconds after
:27:13. > :27:29.midnight. Looking at your groom, please repeat
:27:30. > :27:34.after me. Bernardo, I give xou this ring. Bernardo, I give you this
:27:35. > :27:44.ring, as a symbol of my lovd and my commitment. John, I give yot this
:27:45. > :27:49.ring. As a symbol. As a symbol of my love and my commitment. It only
:27:50. > :27:53.remains for me now with the greatest pleasure to to declare that you are
:27:54. > :27:57.husband and husband, so congratulations. You may kiss the
:27:58. > :28:09.groom. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
:28:10. > :28:15.. It has been a big release. Inside, I feel so good. The responsd of
:28:16. > :28:22.people was amazing. Just looking at John, I could see both of us were in
:28:23. > :28:24.the same mood, we were so h`ppy And Westminster Registry Office have
:28:25. > :28:27.confirmed, John and Bernardo's certificates for marriage wdre
:28:28. > :28:32.issued at the stroke of midnight and the wedding was completed whthin a
:28:33. > :28:37.minute. That makes them the first gay couple to be married in England.