After seven decades together, 90-year-old lesbian couple marries in Iowa

THE heartwarming image of Vivian Boyack and Alice Dubes getting married in the US state of Iowa after being together for 72 years has gone viral on the internet this week.

Boyack, 91, and Dubes, 90, sat next to each other as they exchanged their vows at First Christian Church, Davenport last Saturday.

“This is a celebration of something that should have happened a very long time ago,” the Rev Linda Hunsaker told the intimate gathering of close friends and family who attended the wedding, reported the Quad City Times.

The couple first met while growing up in their hometown of Yale, Iowa, and moved to Davenport in 1947.

There, Boyack taught school and Dubes did payroll work.

During their times together, they traveled to all 50 US states, all of the Canadian provinces, and to England twice.

“We’ve had a good time,” Dubes said, adding that it was never too late to start new chapters in life.

When Iowa legalised same-sex marriage in 2009 it was the fourth US state and the first in the Mid-West region to do so.

So far, 19 states in the US now allow same-sex marriage, with another 12 having stayed rulings for same-sex marriage, which refers to the judicial proceedings being temporarily halted through the order of a court.

Most recently, the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed on Thursday that bans on same-sex marriage in Wisconsin and Indiana were unconstitutional.

According to the Washington Blade, the decision will go into effect in 21 days, unless a stay is sought.

(Main photo credit: Thomas Geyer; Quad City Times; via qctimes.com)