Parish’s first gay marriage happened here

Eunice residents John Arabie and George White became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in the history of St. Landry Parish.
Arabie, 65, originally from Richard, and White, 84, a native of Grand Saline, Texas, have been together more than 45 years after meeting at a party in Houston. The couple was married in the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court’s Office in the Eunice Municipal Complex on June 30 by Joseph Wayne Doucet, justice of the peace in Acadia Parish, Ward 2, Precinct C.
“I pointed to him as he was getting a drink and told a friend sitting with me that he was my next boyfriend,” Arabie said. “She laughed at me and said, ‘Yeah, right.’”
“We met in December and moved in together in March. He could not wait. I’ve learned so much from him. We are total opposites. He is a sports fanatic, and I hate sports. He’s an only child, and there are 10 children in my family.”
“It’s not a shotgun wedding,” White said, laughing, as he and Arabie made their way into City Hall that morning.
White is a former electrical supply house salesman, and Arabie has been in the insurance business for several years. Both men are gay rights activists and members of ACT UP and Queer Nation, and both have marched for civil rights.
“The tears started flowing (when news broke Friday of the Supreme Court ruling),” Arabie continued. “It’s such a relief. People really have no idea how significant this is to us. I’ve been on the phone every day with Linda (Brown, deputy clerk of court). She guided me through the whole process. I’d never been married and didn’t know what to do. I called the clerk of courts when the news broke, but they said they weren’t issuing licenses yet.”
The couple’s long wait was made up for by a short, sweet, laughter and tear-filled ceremony, and two members of the media served as the couple’s witnesses. White presented Arabie with his class ring from 1948 during the ceremony, and the newlyweds had lunch at an area Mexican restaurant as their post-wedding celebration.