Reverend Kate Wilkinson (’08) Shares About Officiating LGBTQ+ Weddings in Provincetown
The following is an excerpt from Boston Globe’s article “LGBTQ+ couples used to flock to Provincetown to say ‘I do.’ Do they still?” by Esha Walia, published on June 30, 2024. Click here to read the full article.
“Summertime used to be prime wedding season for the Rev. Kate Wilkinson, a minister at an oceanside chapel in Provincetown.
When Massachusetts made history in 2004 as the first US state to legalize gay marriage, Provincetown became one of the most sought-after destinations in America, and the world, for LGBTQ+ couples to wed. And Wilkinson’s Unitarian Universalist Meeting House was a popular venue. She’d sometimes officiate at three weddings a weekend, and up to 20 a year, mostly crammed into the summer. She had to hire four wedding chaplains.
That all changed in 2015, when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. That year, the number of LGBTQ+ weddings that Wilkinson officiated dropped to nine. Ever since, she’s done about five a year.
Most wedding vendors would bemoan such a large drop in customers. But in Wilkinson’s eyes, it’s actually a positive turn of events.
“People have started to get married in their home states and their hometowns,” Wilkinson said. ”It’s a wonderful reason to lose wedding business.”
The federal legalization and increased acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States has meant that Provincetown wedding businesses, which have long catered to this industry, are facing more competition — and that LGBTQ+ couples have far more options.”