Midnight wedding held for Key West gay couple

Aaron Huntsman, William Lee Jones become first same-sex couple married in Monroe County

KEY WEST, Fla. – Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones are now the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in Monroe County.

The Key West couple took part in the first gay wedding in Monroe County early Tuesday morning as same-sex marriage became legal throughout Florida.

By 12:10 a.m., Huntsman and Jones were on the steps of the Key West courthouse exchanging wedding vows.

"We did it for everyone, and this community has shown so much support throughout this whole case," Jones told Local 10 News.

Huntsman and Jones challenged a 2008 amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage. Judge Luis Garcia was the first in the state to rule that Florida's ban was unconstitutional in July, but he ordered an immediate stay while the state appealed the decision.

A federal judge recently ruled that a stay on the ruling should be allowed to expire at midnight Jan. 5.

"And everybody's been so part of this that we're all one family," Huntsman told Local 10.

Seven other couples were right behind Huntsman and Jones.

"When you go to law school, you're always dreaming of doing something that means something," attorney Elena Vigil-Farinas, who represented Huntsman and Jones, told Local 10. "Well, this is it."

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