Here’s a fun little marriage equality tidbit from south Louisiana.

Last Sunday, The Daily Iberian, the local newspaper for New Iberia, Louisiana, ran the same-sex wedding announcement of Andre Castaing and Dr. Michael Magursky.

The couple will wed in Boston on Friday, and the couple lives in Atlanta.

The announcement is one thing. But the lack of any sort of raised ire about it in the community is quite another.

In the larger marriage equality picture, this doesn’t mean very much. But sitting at a desk in south Louisiana, this is a very nice moment.

New Iberia is a small city, predominantly conservative, and it’s never been known for an exuberant acceptance of us gay folks. So, a wedding announcement (which ran right above the birth announcements and to the left of a 50th wedding anniversary announcement) is a signal that even here, in the inhospitable south, things can change.

Slowly, of course.

I’ve defended the South as a place where the gay movement could, with work, find allies, and I’ve often heard resistance and disagreement with the idea. While the change here isn’t as sweeping as it is in other parts of the country — I mean, clearly we’re no Iowa — there are indications that progress for the gay rights movement in the South is possible, and possible now.

Like a wedding announcement in a small town newspaper.

Godspeed, the Castaing-Magursky union. May it be a long and loving one.