Husband and husband see in new year

A Brisbane couple entered the new year as husbands after a sun-soaked, red and black-themed riverside ceremony held at the end of 2012. Family and friends witnessed the nuptials of Jesse Hooper and Scott Hooper (nee Burns) during a ceremony held alongside the Brisbane River in a Hamilton park reserve. The warm day and direct sun unfortunately interfered with the playing of a Kylie Minogue song as the couple entered the ceremony but an overheated iPod wasn’t going to spoil their special moment.

“I knew Jesse was very special, a once in a lifetime find,” Burns told the Star Observer.

“I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Jesse so it naturally made sense that I wanted to be his committed partner for life.”

The couple, that indirectly knew each other for some time but officially met thanks to a smart phone app, came to the realisation that they were destined for bigger things after a few short months of dating. Burns popped the question to Hooper a few months after the couple opened up Brisbane’s only male adult store, Spunked, in Brisbane.

Recent set backs in both state and federal marriage equality debates didn’t phase the couple who wanted to make a statement purely to themselves and commit to each other.

“I married Scotty… because we are two adults in love. We have a beautiful home, we have a business together and maybe one day we would like to have a family,” Hooper said.

“I don’t particularly care what the state or the Commonwealth says I can or can’t do with the person I love.”

The current state of the marriage debate going on federally deeply upset the couple and they believe the civil union rollback last year in Queensland was a sign the premier was kowtowing to Christian lobbies.

“It was so promising to see Queensland take this step forward [by introducing civil unions] until Newman and his government took our community back 10 years by rolling it back,” Burns said.

“I think it is disgusting that in this country we still have the level of discrimination against LGBTI people that we do,” Hooper added.

“I find this shocking and disgusting that the federal government will not make a stand on gay marriage. It all comes down the votes… the government of the day should be making a stand and doing something right the country and the people.” Burns added.