HONOLULU — Retired professors Rod Powell and Bob Eddinger have been partners in life since they met at the University of Hawaii in 1977. On Monday, they joined in marriage on the first day their home state allowed same-sex couples
HONOLULU — Retired professors Rod Powell and Bob Eddinger have been partners in life since they met at the University of Hawaii in 1977. On Monday, they joined in marriage on the first day their home state allowed same-sex couples to form such unions.
“I said to Bob, ‘Would you choose me again?’ And he looked at me and said ‘I choose you every day.’ And I think that says it all about how we feel about each other,” Powell said before they signed their marriage papers.
Powell, 78, and Eddinger, 74, have raised three children and cared for ailing parents in their 36 years together. They tied the knot on Monday to be among those marking the civil rights milestone for gays and lesbians.
“We chose to do it this day to celebrate it as a very significant forward movement in the transformation of society toward equality and justice,” Powell said.
It’s the second such effort Powell has been involved in. In the 1960s, he was a leader of the African-American civil rights movement when he was a student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.
The state Department of Health said it received 179 applications for marriage licenses from same-sex couples by midafternoon after it began accepting applications at midnight.
The department said 130 couples were residents of Hawaii, while one or both partners in 49 of the couples lives out of state.
