Meredith Baxter is probably best known for her role as Elise on “Family Ties”; as the headband-wearing matriarch of a suburban family in the Reagan-dominated ’80s, she was the very picture of the perfect mom. But she and husband Steven were about more than a picture-perfect existence in the ‘burbs, being all for human rights and sit-ins for peace and justice, and that’s something Baxter might appreciate as a gay woman.

The 66-year old actress wed her girlfriend of seven years, Nancy Locke, on Sunday in a private ceremony. It was her fourth marriage and she has five grown children, which might have complicated things when she decided to come out as a lesbian in 2009. However, she says her kids were extremely supportive.

“I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening,” Baxter said in 2009. “I never fought it because it was like, ‘Oh, I understand why I had the issues I had early in life.’ I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships. I said, ‘I think I’m gay,’ and my oldest boy said, ‘I knew,’. The support from my family and anyone close to me has been so immediate and unqualified. I’ve really been blessed.”

Baxter and Locke reportedly took dance lessons in order to wow their friends and family at the ceremony, but have not said whether they plan to honeymoon.

Image: Wikimedia Commons