Exclusive photos: Gay marriages in SB County

Check here some photos of the couples featured in Wednesday and Thursday's coverage of the first gay marriages in San Bernardino County history.

SAN BERNARDINO - Julie LaMontagne fretted that her eye mascara might be smeared.

"I don't want to look like Tammi Faye Baker here," she said.

LaMontagne, right, and Martinez get married June 17
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She didn't, but she did tear up. Getting married can do that to a woman.

LaMontagne, 48, of Redlands, wed Paulina Martinez, 45. The women have been together 19 years.

LaMontagne said she was excited to secure the same rights and privileges afforded other married couples, as well as a new level of social acceptance, in marrying Martinez, who is a professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Both were also adamant that they thought the tide would continue in their favor.

"I really did expect this to happen at some point," LaMontagne said. "We are optimistic that the majority of people are on our side, and we know God is on our side."

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Mark Kimbrough, 48, and Donnie Lovett, 44, know all about being outcasts.
They moved to Apple Valley in 1995 from Alabama, where being gay men didn't win them a lot of friends or admirers.

Donnie Lovett, left, and Mark Kimbrough, say their vows. The two hail from Alabama, and said that background made this moment, which they thought would never come, all the sweeter.
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"Look, we're from Alabama, we never thought we'd see this day," said Lovett, his southern twang intact.

But both men know all about inequality and trampled rights, and they clearly think of themselves as modern troopers in a new Civil Rights struggle.

"This is a dream come true for us, but it's about equality for all people," Lovett said.

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Lindsay Bass, 27, left, and Juliana Simmons, 30, say their vows June 17.

Lindsay Bass and Juliana Simmons had no family at their wedding, just one supportive friend. Both young but emotional and fiercely protective of one another, the two women cried during their four-minute outdoor ceremony.

They sealed their vows with a kiss.

"We didn't want to miss this opportunity because we never know what can happen," said Bass, who works with her new wife at a restaurant. Bass is a server; Simmons a bartender. Both live in Highland.

Simmons was more adamant. Wiping away tears with the back of her hand, her eyes a mix of vulnerability and steel, Simmons said she didn't know the law but knew what was in her heart.

"If it's done now ... this, what we did now, can't be taken away," Simmons said.