Wedding Bells in the Juneau Empire

by E. Ross

The Neighbors section of the Juneau Empire includes a wedding announcement for a gay male couple.

This is the first same-sex marriage announcement to appear in the Juneau Empire. The newspaper published an article about a lesbian couple who were planning to get married in San Francisco when that was briefly possible. However, the couple missed the window of opportunity, so no wedding announcement was posted. 

These men live in the Netherlands, where same-sex marriage is legal:

Crispian Smith, of Juneau, and Jeroen van Dalen, of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, were married in a ceremony attended by family and friends on March 29, 2008, in the Old Church in Amsterdam.

 

Mr. van Dalen is the son of Cees van Dalen, of Schiedam, the Netherlands, and Atie and Dick de Zeeuw, of Amsterdam. He received his doctorandus from the University of Maastricht and works as a content management consultant.

 

Mr. Smith is the son of Phil and Deborah Smith, of Juneau. A graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School, he received his bachelor's degree from the New School for Social Research in New York City and his master's from the University of Amsterdam. He is a case manager at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

 

After a brief honeymoon on the Belgian coast, the couple returned to their home in Amsterdam.

Congratulations to Crispian and Jeroen on their wedding, and to the Juneau Empire for their first same-sex marriage announcement.