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Around the UFT

Celebrating marriage equality

Special City Hall ceremony
Around the UFT
Bruce Cotler

Mayor Bill de Blasio, backed by rainbow gay pride flags, celebrates the Supreme Court ruling before the ceremony.

Bruce Cotler

Katrina Council (left) and Sara Joseph seal their vows. 

June is a traditional month for weddings. But there was very little that was traditional about social studies teacher Katrina Council’s wedding to her fiancée Sara Joseph on June 26. In a ceremony performed by Mayor Bill de Blasio on the steps of City Hall, Council and Joseph’s wedding celebrated that day’s historic Supreme Court ruling declaring marriage equality in all 50 states. Council, who just completed her first year of teaching at the Manhattan Comprehensive Day and Night HS, was in her classroom organizing papers when the ruling was released. “All of a sudden my phone just blew up,” she says. “Sara was screaming, ‘We’re getting married today!’ through the phone.” Before rushing off to City Hall for the ceremony, Council had enough time to celebrate over cake with her colleagues, whom she says were “incredibly supportive.” Her one regret? Missing her students’ graduation that evening. Just a few days later, Council was back in her classroom for summer school, where her students were eager to celebrate with her. “They were really, really excited, saying, ‘Miss, I saw you on the news!’” she says. “I have a few students who are gay, and they said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I can get married like you got married.’”