Vice president and now wedding officiant! Joe Biden presided over his first-ever wedding for a same-sex couple on Monday, August 1.
Biden, 73, officiated the nuptials of two longtime White House staffers, Brian Mosteller and Joe Mahshie. The newlyweds tied the knot at Biden’s home at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., his office said, according to CNN.
The former Delaware senator posted a photo on Twitter on Monday, writing, “Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”
Biden received a temporary certification from the District of Columbia to perform the intimate ceremony, which was attended by just the grooms’ families, according to Biden’s office. Mosteller is the director of Oval Office operations for President Barack Obama and Mahshie serves as a trip coordinator for Michelle Obama.
Biden’s wife, Jill, later retweeted the photo and chimed in, “Love is love!” The vice president’s official photographer, David Lienemann, who likely snapped pics from the ceremony, also reposted Biden’s tweet, adding, “Congrats to Brian and Joe!”
Obama and Biden both endorsed the legalization of nationwide same-sex marriage in 2012. In a profile for the Washington Post, Mosteller said he’s been open with Obama about his sexual orientation since the beginning of the campaign for the White House. “When I was young, I couldn’t fathom that I could ever have a partner, and now I was with the president of the United States, and together, we were talking this kind of partnership, and it was not only public but so very normal,” Mosteller said of POTUS. “How often does a boss talk about love? Now, how often does a boss contribute to our country’s blessing of your love?”
