The New York Times runs first lesbian civil union announcement

Two weeks after changing its Wedding announcements policy to include notices of same-sex unions, The New York Times on Sunday printed its first announcement of a lesbian union. Leslie Jennifer Miller and Alicia Jana Salzer were joined in a commitment ceremony on Fire Island Saturday. Salzer, 36, is an attending psychiatrist in the emergency department at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan. Miller, who is a staff forensic examiner at the Crime Victims Treatment Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt, met Salzer in the hospital's emergency room in October 1999. Also included on Sunday's Weddings page was an announcement of a commitment ceremony between Thomas William Leonard and Ralph Christopher Lione. Leonard is the fund-raising director for Cispes, which is based in Manhattan. Lione is a senior art director at Newsweek magazine in Manhattan. He also designs costumes for the theater.