It was supposed to be a simple ceremony with two witnesses, but quickly turned into rows of people filling the Mayor’s Reception Room in City Hall.
Surrounded by gilt-framed portraits of Philadelphia’s leaders, Rob Saxon and Blair Weikert married each other March 15 after nine years together. Sue Daugherty, CEO of the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance, and her partner, Meg Paszko, stood as friends of the couple.
Mayor Jim Kenney officiated the ceremony in his first time performing the duty as mayor. Twenty of his staffers joined the festivities.
“It was nice to be a part of the beginning of their new life together,” Kenney told PGN. “The fact that they’re now officially married in the eyes of the commonwealth is a strong verification of the dignity of all people.”
Saxon met Kenney on volunteer projects in the city and said Kenney’s longtime advocacy for LGBT rights made him and Weikert choose the mayor to marry them. In 2013 while serving as a city councilman, Kenney introduced a comprehensive LGBT-rights bill that called for gender-inclusive bathrooms in new construction on city buildings and transgender-health tax credits.
“We love Philadelphia,” Saxon emailed PGN from the honeymoon Caribbean cruise that he and Weikert embarked on after the ceremony. “What would be better than having Mayor Kenney officiate?”
Saxon, director of external affairs at MANNA, said everyone hugged him and his spouse after the ceremony.
“It was very special,” he wrote. “It made it even more memorable.”
Saxon said he and Weikert, an infectious-disease doctor affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, were initially on the fence about getting married. They thought it wouldn’t change their daily lives as a committed couple.
“But we felt we needed to legally be married to protect our rights and to be recognized,” Saxon wrote.
“Honestly, I never thought I would see the day when gay marriage would be a reality and recognized by the state,” he wrote. “It seemed to happen fast, but in reality has been a long fight by so many that have come before us…We are reaping the rewards of their fortitude and determination to achieve equality.”
Kenney said he didn’t have a plan to marry any specific couple for his first time officiating a wedding as mayor, but noted, “I was proud to do it.”
He confessed he felt a little nervous.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up, spoke at the right cadence and didn’t trip over any words. I think I managed it all right.
“It was just nice to experience other people’s happiness,” Kenney said.