Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Marries Husband in Historic First for Nation

On Wednesday, Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis married his longtime partner Marlon Reis in a small ceremony. The event is the first same-sex wedding of a sitting United States governor.

"The greatest lesson we have learned over the past 18 months is that life as we know it can change in an instant," Polis wrote to his Governor of Jared Polis Twitter account. The 18 months is likely a reference to the ongoing global pandemic. "We are thankful for the opportunity to celebrate our life together as a married couple.

"After 18 years together, we couldn't be happier to be married at last," he finished.

Polis and Reis became engaged in December and announced that engagement to the public in March. The engagement came as Reis was preparing to go to the hospital after contracting the virus at the center of the pandemic -- both Reis and Polis reported they had contracted the virus in November. At the time, they had been together for 17 years, and Polis proposed with a ring that included an inscription with a passage from the Bible. The couple parent two children together.

The wedding occurred on the 18th anniversary of their first date, according to NPR, and was a traditional Jewish ceremony at the University of Colorado in Boulder, which is where Reis graduated from. Their 7-year-old daughter was a flower girl and their 9-year-old son was the ring bearer. Rabbi Tirah Firestone officiated the ceremony at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theater.

"Over the course of Jared's career in Congress, you know, we didn't set out to be the first of anything," Reis told NPR. In 2008, Polis became the first out gay man elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a nonincumbent. In 2018, he went on to become the first out gay man elected governor in the nation. "Things sort of happened that way."