Sinclair Treadway and Sean Adl-Tabatabai will be spending their anniversary in Scotland

It’s a decade since the law change allowing same-sex couples to marry. TOM FOOT speaks to the first Camden pair to tie the knot

A LOVING couple looked back at “the happiest day of their lives” when they wed in Camden Town Hall, remembering the “whirlwind” that led to the historic occasion a decade ago.

Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway were the first in Camden to say their vows after progressive legislation ensured same-sex couples could marry for the first time.

The new laws came into effect in April 2014 after years of campaigning, but the couple recalled how they had not thought too much about the bigger picture at the time. Neither of them had come out to their families, for example – adding a little spice to wedding invite conversation.  Still going strong, they spoke this week about how it was up to society to move forward now that the playing field had been levelled in law.

Sean, now 42, said: “We didn’t think too much about the impact beforehand, the consequences for other people before us. But when we got there that night I think we both realised how important it was. It was a public statement, people were interested in us and our views. We were answering from our hearts. We were kind of representing gay marriage. But we hadn’t been activists, we didn’t have encyclopaedic knowledge. That was good I think because we came across something much more real.

“So now we’ve been married for years. I guess we feel like we are just as boring as any other couple in society.”

Looking at the impact of the legislation, he added: “I think the government can only do so much. It’s really up to society to change. It’s not as if it is all sunshine and roses, but it feels a hell of a lot better than it used to be. We’re not being excluded because of laws. It’s a step in the right direction. If the playing field is level, maybe there’s a chance things could be better.”

The institution of marriage had been tainted in many same-sex couple’s minds, mainly because they had been excluded from it.

March 2014: The Town Hall chamber was open past midnight to ensure not a second was wasted

Sean said: “In the past, same-sex relationships had sort of been invalidated. A lot of push-back from the gay community, not mainstream society. For so long they have been outcasts. Not considered equal. Not having the same rights, it had created an attitude among the gay community. I think it was important to level the playing fields. I like the idea that you can choose to be outside of all that, but you can also be part of it. It’s so important to be able to be part of and not to be part of something.”

The New Journal was at the midnight ceremony that was attended by Camden’s then mayor Jonathan Simpson, who said: “Tonight is another huge step in civil rights for our country and also an acknowledgement that love conquers all,” he said.

As the clock approached midnight the strains of Fleetwood Mac’s You Make Loving Fun started to drift in, and there was a collective intake of breath.

The council organised an after-party at the Proud Galleries in Camden Market.  The event was organised for just after midnight on the first day the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into force.

There was a battle between Islington, Westminster and Camden to see who could get the very first one over the line.

Sinclair, now 30, recalled how he had been staying in a single room in a Beverly Hills hotel with his aunt and uncle, and had gone out to get some space, later finding Sean on the app Grindr and meeting nearby.

He said: “It was love at first sight. I had to leave a few days later but we kept in touch. I decided to visit London later that year. And then we thought, let’s get married. We didn’t think too much about it. I just thought, you’ve got to take that leap. Just two people who fell madly in love. The way I was looking at it was this was our chance at true love. That’s something I have always believed in. Let’s just dive in. Don’t think about it going to fail. This is right for us.”

Congratulations from the then mayor Councillor Jonathan Simpson

And he recalled: “When I was 14 I was so certain I was going to move to London. I was obsessed with it, obsessed with the music. Then I met Sean. I came back to breakfast and I had a giant golf ball- sized hickey on my neck, and my aunt freaked out. My mum was so accepting. Neither of us were really out when we got engaged.”

Sean said he hadn’t wanted to “come out” to his parents as a younger man – not out of concern for how they’d react, but more not seeing the need to.

He said: “When I invited them to the wedding, my mum and dad said ‘is it a guy?’ I said ‘yes, I’m gay’. It was totally fine. My dad said ‘I thought you were gay’. They are quite like hippies, so I wasn’t worried. I just always had a weird thing about coming out full stop. It was a weird concept to me. Imagine if you had to sit down with your parents and tell them you liked to sleep with women? I just hadn’t wanted to have a conversation with them about what sex I liked. The real shock for them was that I was getting married.”

The couple moved to LA where they set up a controversial “fake news” website, and their latest collaboration is a new comedy channel, Drunk Canary.

Sean, who lived in Agar Grove and worked at MTV in Camden Town, said: “Working together full-time, it really works for us. We have a close group of daily friends. and we enjoy spending time together. We wake up and watch comedy shows and start coming up with our own material.”

The couple are setting off to Scotland this weekend for the 10-year anniversary driving through the Highlands and tasting whiskies in Loch Lomond.