Meredith Baxter marries Nancy Locke after seven years together

Meredith Baxter married her longtime partner Nancy Locke, just about four years after the “Family Ties� mom came out as a lesbian.

Baxter and Locke, who’ve been together for seven years, tied the knot Sunday in what People called an intimate afternoon ceremony in Los Angeles. Baxter’s five children joined close friends and other family members for the event, which included handwritten vows and a first dance.

“Now I understand why marriage caught on!� the 66 year-old told the mag.

Baxter, well known for playing Elyse Keaton, mom to Michael J. Fox’s Alex P. Keaton on the 1980s sitcom “Family Ties,� has been married three times before, to men.

In her 2009 coming out, Baxter told Matt Lauer on “Today,� “I did not want some tabloid to take a story and make it up. So I wanted it to be in my own words.�

In an interview with the Advocate around the same time, the actress noted she’d been living a fairly open gay lifestyle for years before deciding to go public.

Locke is a building contractor with completed projects in the Los Angeles area.

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