Wedding Nuptials

My partner and I can’t be labeled activists, radicals or subversives—we are simply a same-sex couple who wanted to legitimize our relationship. So on September 8, 2008 Traci and I took advantage of a window of opportunity to get legally married at San Francisco City Hall. We’ve been together for over 8 years but haven’t been able to enjoy the rights of a legally married union until the ruling affirming same-sex marriage by California’s highest court.

The California Supreme court affirmed our right to marry in 2008 but Proposition 8 quickly followed, looking to strip us of that right. Knowing that voters in much of this state are more concerned with denying people their rights instead of real issues, my partner and I decided not to take a chance. We got our license and married before the election. And our worst fears were confirmed; Proposition 8 won and same-sex couples lost our rights.

However, some 18,000 same-sex couples married in that window, including us. Now those marriages are being contested by the same people that funded the drive to deny us our equal rights and our marriage may eventually be annulled. How sad when real issues need to be addressed. Private sector “criminals” are allowed to rape the citizens of the country (and the world), a corrupt government wages an unjust war, the economy is in shambles, millions of people are losing their homes, the middle-class is under attack, the poor are being ignored, and so much more is wrong. But gays and lesbians are denied equal rights so that the sanctity of marriage is protected.

If you watch the video of our own ceremony you can see the joy and love in us. I’d say that the beauty of two people coming together in love is not a threat to marriage. If there is a threat to the sanctity of marriage I’d suggest that opposite-sex couples take a good look at themselves. They have made a mockery of the institution for decades—they don’t need our help.