After two years of engagement and their inability to marry in China, gay couple Zhiyong Yang and Hong Duan have finally found the opportunity to deepen their love affair, establishing a virtual marriage via the Zoom platform within the marriage services in distance provided by Utah County in the United States.
“We have been obsessed with each other since we met two years ago … but we couldn’t get married, because there is no chance for LGBT people in China, because it’s illegal,” says Duan, 29. . But they found another way to do it. , albeit by default.
And Duane adds in his speech to “Washington Post‘, that although their relationship will not be legally recognized in China, they want their virtual marriage to be an’ official confession of their love ‘.
Ross Rampton, deputy county digital wedding licensing services employee, reveals that since spring 2020, the Utah County Office has performed virtual weddings for thousands of international couples, including 585 Chinese couples.
He explains that about 150 of those Chinese weddings were done by same-sex couples like Duan and Yang, in his interview with the American newspaper.
He adds that dozens of same-sex couples from countries like Russia, the Philippines and China, whose governments don’t recognize same-sex marriage, have applied for marriage via the Zoom platform in Utah.
On October 10, they donned their favorite T-shirts and got married in the middle of the night in their apartment in their hometown of Chongqing, with Duan’s parents also present as witnesses on Zoom.
“Since we met, the distance between us has always been less than an inch,” Yang says during the conversation about the wedding. “We knew we couldn’t be apart.”
After the couple exchanged rings and kissed, Utah County Clerk Ben Fry announced they were now a legal couple, noting that he had held dozens of weddings with gay couples from China.
Although Utah is one of America’s most conservative counties with church members opposed to same-sex marriage, Ross Rampton points out that “personal beliefs shouldn’t stand in the way of the law.”
“If you believe in individual freedom, same-sex marriage is a natural consequence of it, love includes all nations, cultures and languages. Same-sex marriage is legal in the United States and we abide by the law.” he adds.
The local official reveals that Utah County decided to organize virtual weddings ahead of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, noting that the Office of Marriage Licensing began providing its services weeks before the quarantine decision.
“We initially provided this service to Utah County residents so they wouldn’t have to travel long distances to come to our office to get married,” Rampton explains, “and then continued to provide his services after the outbreak of the marriage. ‘epidemic. “
And he continues: “Anyone who is eligible for marriage has the right to do so in our office”, and this is subject to conditions: “Whoever wishes to present proof of coming of age, completes all the required forms online and then pays a fee of $ 35 “.
For Duan and Yang, who work as office assistants in Chongqing, seeing an online announcement that they could get married remotely with the help of a Utah official was a “life-changing moment,” they said.
