The world’s first lesbian couple to legally marry have celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary.
Dutch couple Helene Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus met on a blind date in 1998 and married in 2001, when the Netherlands became the first country to allow gay marriage.
Nearly 15,000 gay and lesbian couples have tied the knot in the country since.
Ms Thus, 41, a notary assistant and gay rights campaigner, told AFP: “We married for love, not politics. But of course we were aware it was an historic moment.”
Her wife, 44-year-old notary Ms Faasen, said: “We wanted to make other people think about how horrible it is to be denied something that is a natural right for others [by marrying in front of the world's press].”
Their wedding took place on April 1st 2001 alongside three male couples in Amsterdam. Mayor Job Cohen performed the ceremonies and the brides wore flowing white dresses.
The couple now live in Maastricht in south Netherlands with their two children, ten-year-old Nathan, and Myrthle, nine.
“We like to show how very dull and normal we are,” Ms Faasen said.
“It is not the Sodom and Gomorrah many people apparently expect to result from the legalisation of gay marriage”.
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