Rambaud, whose businesses include the multi-million pound Sarut Group, a luxury gift company, and the Tea & Honey Store in downtown New York, married his long-time partner Alan Ceppos in Southampton, New York. The two men became the first gay couple to be legally wed in the town’s 371-year history.
Only two days after the legislation granting same-sex couples the right to marry in the state of New York took effect – but almost 40 years after the pair met – Ceppos, 61, and Rambaud, 55, stood side by side in Southampton’s palatial town hall and exchanged vows, surrounded by friends and family. Guests had travelled from as far afield as India and Senegal to attend the wedding.
Speaking to the press, the newly-wed Rambaud said “I thought I would never get married, because I thought I would never be able to get married. But after 26,000 years, we might not be the first in the world, or in New York, but we're the first in the Hamptons."
“This is not going to change our commitment at all,” Ceppos told reporters before the ceremony, “What we hope it will change is the way the world will view our relationship and that somewhere, that 10-year old kid who has to hide his feelings will be able to stand up and say, ‘I have a choice.’"
The couple met 38 years ago, when Ceppos, a native New Yorker was teaching English in Paris, and Rambaud, born in Senegal and educated in Europe, was attending EBS Paris and studying English part-time. While the lessons he learned in managing a business have brought him significant economic success and reward, a chance meeting during his studies has brought far more than that.
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