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Gay couple awarded $5,000

Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 14/05) - The gay couple who paved the way for same-sex marriages in the North have been awarded $5,000 to cover court costs incurred in their battle.

Supreme Court Justice Virginia Schuler let the GNWT off the hook for payments to Jason Perrino and Colin Snow, ordering the federal government to pay instead.

The couple was hoping to recoup $10,500 in legal costs accumulated in their short fight to include same-sex marriages in the GNWT's definition of marriage.

Perrino, a school teacher and Snow, a public servant, decided to take legal action in May after the territorial government refused to give them a marriage licence.

They married in a large, albeit illegal, ceremony in 2003.

They won the fight, same-sex marriages was legalized in the NWT as of July 20.