Victoria — B.C. cabinet minister Ted Nebbeling says he's the first cabinet minister anywhere to marry his same-sex partner.
Mr. Nebbeling, 59, said Monday he married his same-sex partner of 32 years in a quiet ceremony in Vancouver last November.
Mr. Nebbeling is currently B.C.'s Mnister of State for the Community Charter and the 2010 Winter Olympics, posts he's held since the Liberals formed government in May 2001.
Mr. Nebbeling said he wanted to make his marriage public next month, but news of the ceremony leaked out.
‘I wanted it to become public after I met with my colleagues during the opening of the house and the caucus meeting,” he said.
Mr. Nebbeling said he planned to explain why he and property manager Jan Holmberg married and if there were questions, he planned to answer them.
Premier Gordon Campbell offered best wishes to Mr. Nebbeling and Holmberg after the couple's Nov. 15 wedding, Mr. Nebbeling said.
“I've spoken to the Premier, last week actually, and he congratulated me,” said Mr. Nebbeling. “He was very happy for me. That was very nice to experience.”
He said he has yet to hear from the entire Liberal caucus, but is ready for negative and positive responses.
“We have members who would be very supportive of what I've done,” Mr. Nebbeling said.
“I have no doubt there may be some members who would have problems with that. We haven't really had discussions on it up to now so we'll see where that goes.”
Mr. Nebbeling is the member of the legislature for the affluent West Vancouver-Garibaldi riding.
He said he and Mr. Holmberg, 63, decided to get married shortly after a B.C. court made same sex marriage legal in July 2003.
Mr. Nebbeling, an immigrant to Canada from the Netherlands, said he and his partner, who is from Sweden, could easily have married in the Netherlands, where gay marriage has been legal for years and where Mr. Nebbeling still has family.
But he said they wanted to tie the knot in Canada, their homeland.
Mr. Nebbeling said his marriage may add more fuel to the same-sex marriage debate in Canada, which is expected to become a major issue in the next federal election.
“I think the debate will continue but may have some new element because of my marriage status,” he said.
“Ultimately, it was all about my partner and myself doing something that was meaningful and something that we wanted to do.”
Mr. Nebbeling, who was wearing a wedding ring, said he's the same person he was prior to marriage.
“I have my peanut butter sandwich in the morning, that's my favourite,” he said. “Life has been good before and life is good as it is now.”
