Nicky Glover (left) and Michelle Sanders… ceremony under a chuppahTWO former students of Sydney’s Moriah College plan to become the first lesbian couple to make a commitment to each other in a Jewish ceremony officiated by a rabbi.
Nicky Glover and Michelle Sanders, both 40, celebrated a secular commitment ceremony last month under a chuppah, at an outdoor venue in Byron Shire.
The event was attended by more than 100 friends and family.
The couple has planned a second commitment ceremony at Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, towards the end of the year.
“People ask if our wedding is legal, but that is not the most important thing to us. Our marriage was witnessed by the people we love,” said Sanders, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child.
“The kosher ceremony will be at Emanuel after our child is born. At that one there will be three of us.”
Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins, senior rabbi of Emanuel Synagogue, confirmed that the couple and baby would be recognised as a family.
If this happens, the child will be the first Australian Jew whose homosexual parents are formally united by a synagogue.
“We wanted to get married to publicly declare our love for each other and to give our child a solid family structure,” said Glover, who operates an internet marketing consultancy.
