Performers celebrated love equality with an in-house audience and people around the world as 33 couples wed on live television Sunday night during the 56th Grammy Awards.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ performance of their hit song, “Same Love,” was followed by Queen Latifah’s administration of marriage nuptials to 33 couples, gay and straight, young and old.
“We are gathered here to celebrate love and harmony,” the singer said before asking the participants to exchange rings.
The CBS broadcast did not reveal any of the couples sharing ceremonial kisses.
Madonna joined in the couples’ celebrations by singing “Open Your Heart,” and then with a second rendition of “Same Love.”
The lyrics of the song, which comes from Macklemore and Lewis’ 2012 debut studio album, discusses gay and lesbian rights. The Seattle-based hip-hop duo recorded it during the campaign for Washington Referendum 74, which was approved in 2012 and led to the legalization of same-sex marriages in the state. The song was nominated, but lost, on Sunday for “Song of the Year,” but has reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list in the United States.
Some of the top musicians in the world received their industry’s highest honor on Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif. But the awards were also a victory for same-sex couples around the state during the first year when marriage equality was recognized legally there for the first time. The Supreme Court last June ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional, which California residents previously passed in November 2008 state elections to ban same-sex marriages.
Michele Richinick