Former US President George HW Bush has served as an official witness at the same-sex wedding of two longtime friends in Maine.Jim McGrath, a Bush spokesman, said Mr Bush and his wife, Barbara, attended the ceremony Saturday joining Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen. He says they were there as private citizens and friends.
A photo posted on Sunday on Mrs Thorgalsen's Facebook page shows Mr Bush signing the marriage license as a witness. She captioned the photo: "Getting our marriage license witnessed!"
In the photo, Bush is seated in a wheelchair, a stack of papers on his lap and his left hand poised with a pen. One bright red sock and one bright blue one peek out below the cuffs of his blue slacks.
The 41st president has deep ties to the area and owns a compound in Kennebunkport.
Mrs Thorgalsen and Mrs Clement own a general store in neighbouring Kennebunk.
Mrs Clement told the Washington Post that they had known the former first couple for years and were thrilled they accepted the wedding invitation. Thinking about "how monumental this time is in our lives" and "how blessed we are to be in their lives," they decided to ask them "to really personalise it for us" as witnesses.
"This is such a wonderful time for change in our legal system," she said. "Who would be best to help us acknowledge the importance of our wedding as our friends and as the former leader of the free world. When they agreed to do so we just felt that it was the next acknowledgment of being 'real and normal.'"
Gay marriage became legal in Maine in December.
One of Bush's sons, former President George W. Bush, opposed same-sex marriage and in 2004 announced his support for a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw it. But his wife, Laura Bush, and their daughter Barbara Bush support gay marriage, as does his former vice president, Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary Cheney is openly gay.
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