‘Resisting, just by existing and loving.’ Columbia market hosts free gay weddings

The weddings were initially supposed to cost $100 a pop. They ended up being free.

Y’all-Mart, a quarterly Columbia art fair advertised as a “flea market for Southern eclectic folks,” hosted eight free gay weddings Sunday as a fundraiser for the Harriet Hancock Center’s name change and gender marker fund.

Stoked by an Instagram post on Jan. 20 beckoning people to “come get gay married at Y’all-Mart,” the fundraiser surpassed its goal of $2,000, and organizers subsequently made free their wedding packages, which came complete with cupcakes, flowers, photography and bolo ties. The mass wedding raised more than $3,500, which will go to cover fees required for those wishing to change their legal name or assigned gender to do so. Harriet Hancock Center Director Cristina Picozzi said filing this paperwork costs $150.

The LGBTQ+ couples all had their own reasons for wanting to get married at an art fair, but one common thread was the uncertainty that their marriage would be legal by the time they could plan a more traditional wedding.

On Jan. 27, the Idaho House of Representatives called for the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that extended marriage rights to LGBTQ+ couples. No recent actions challenging that ruling have been made in South Carolina, but there was a sense among the couples getting married at Y’all-Mart that the political landscape may be shifting in a way that makes that precedent more tenuous.

“We were talking about how it feels a little urgent, but we want to use our agency as we have it and take a leap,” said Klo Hampton, one of the people who got married.

The beautiful weather, safe atmosphere for queer love and the chance to support a cause they believe in also helped motivate the couples.

William Bonney and James Carpenter, who had frequented Art Bar together for years before their wedding Sunday, said they’ve always felt safe and able to be themselves openly at the bar.

Sharon Thrailkill and Christine Fowler, another couple that got married during Y’all-Mart, had their first date at the market and met through the art fair’s founders. Even with the shortened time frame, the couple was able to marry in front of friends and family.

“The more hostile it gets the harder it gets to anticipate being able to do it later,” Thrailkill said.

Y’all-Mart co-founder Caitlyn Viars gave the same invocation at each wedding. In it, she spoke of the challenges queer couples face today, and asked everyone in attendance to show solidarity to the newlyweds in the days to come.

“When we find our queer joy … we are resisting, just by existing and loving,” Viars said after the weddings. “It’s almost a form of a protest. It shouldn’t be, but it is.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM.