Singaporean lesbian couple - Sheena and Kai - wedded in Central Park, New York, NY, with Rev. Steve Parelli officiating

By Rev. Stephen Parelli
September 17, 2011
Bronx, New York

Sheena (left) and Kai, newlyweds,
Central Park, NYC, September 16, 2011

Sheena (Shi Jia Sheena Ling) and Kai (Kai Hiang Tan), a lesbian couple from Singapore, were married on September 16, 2011, in Central Park, New York. Four friends of the bride and bride, three travelling from Singapore just for the occasion and a fourth a student at NYU, witnessed the marriage (along with some Muppets). The wedding ceremony, given the theme “authentically playful” by the bride and bride, was held at the Hans Christian Andersen statue, the famous Denmark writer of children’s stories, near 72nd Street and East Drive, Central Park.

Rev. Stephen Parelli, clergy member of Metropolitan Community Church of New York and member of The Riverside Church, New York, officiated.

The bride and bried - Sheena (center left) and Kai -
with friends from Singapore and Rev. Parelli
(back row far left), Central Park, NYC,
September 16, 2011

The ceremony, which began shortly after 4:00pm on a warm and bright sunny Friday, was conducted to one side of the Andersen statue on the raised stone platform area on which the statue sits. Sheena and Kai gave vows they wrote. Kai surprised Sheena with a song. The Muppets sat on the edge of the platform while the friends stood on ground level looking up to the bride and bride standing before the reverend. By-standers stopped and took pictures then carried on.

Kai (left) and Sheena celebrating
their marriage with the theme
"authentically playful"

Following the ceremony, the newlyweds and their friends, still at the Andersen statue, celebrated the marriage with gifts from the bride and bride, food and Champaign, bubbles from two bubble-making guns, and the signing of the marriage license. Jose Ortiz, arriving after the ceremony from his job in the Bronx where he works as a counselor of school children, joined in the fun.

Rev. Parelli (left) and spouse
Jose Ortiz (center left) with
Kai (center right) and Sheena (right),
Central Park, NYC, September
16, 2011

Sheena and Kai met Rev. Parelli and his spouse Jose Ortiz on August 14, 2011, at the Free Community Church in Singapore. Sheen and Kai, as first-time visitors at the Free Community Church, came for the special occasion to hear Steve and Jose, Executive Director and Coordinator of Other Sheep respectively, give a seminar on the fallacies of the evangelical ex-gay movement in America. Following the Singapore seminar, Kai and Sheena asked Jose if Steve could officiate their up-coming marriage in Central Park, New York. Before leaving Singapore, over the phone, Steve gladly agreed.

Sheena (left) and Kai (holding marriage license) with
Rev. Steve Parelli (right),
at Hans Christian Andersen statue, Central Park,
New York, NY, September 16, 2011.

Wedding guests T. Y. and C. Y, both of Singapore (and both asking to remain anonymous because of job security fears back in Singapore), signed the license as witnesses of the marriage.

Muppets sitting at the site of the Hans Christian
Andersen statue, Central Park, observing
the wedding ceremony of Sheena and Kai,
September 16, 2011