Sunday New York Times announces a "commitment ceremony"

I am not a regular Sunday NY Times reader. And when I do read it, it's usually a handful of sections, not including "Sunday Styles."  But last Sunday I was on a cross country flight and spent more time than usual perusing the paper.  I am periodically curious about the number of same-sex wedding announcements, so late in the flight I turned to that section of the paper.

First I marveled, again, at the old-fashioned convention of the contents of these announcements, and the sheer class bias in them.  Every person a college graduate, with parents of various distinction. But I read on, including the three gay male couples whose announcements were, for better and/or for worse, indistinguishable from the others.

But then...a deviation so momentous I had to read and reread it to believe my eyes.  Emily Brouwer and Anna Le Mon, complete with smiling faces, "affirmed their partnership in a commitment ceremony ceremony" in San Francisco, in a service led by a friend.  Wow and double wow!  The other NYT conventions were complied with precisely.  College degrees. Jobs. Parents.  I don't know when "commitment ceremonies" began gracing the NY Times Sunday announcements, so this may be old news to some.  But to me it was actually a way I could see myself on this very page, something I have never imagined.

I have never wanted to take commitment out of marriage...only the law and the name.  A public affirmation of commitment is just the sort of statement I admire, a way or drawing together family and friends to celebrate love.

If anyone knows when the Times included the first of these, I'd love to know.