In a few hours, Thom — an old a longtime friend, who has commented here on occasion — and his partner, Jeff, will celebrate their wedding, near their home in California. They planned this pre-prop-8, and saw no reason to change plans on account of a bunch of right-wing party poopers.
And a grand party they’ve planned! I wanted to be there, but can’t. Happily, I did get to see them just a few months ago, so that, and this post, will have to serve as my joining them in celebration.
[Raises glass.]
Congratulations, and many more years of happiness!
!מזל טוב
[Clink!]
4 comments:
Yay! Congratulations!
I have mixed feelings about this, as you probably do. On one hand, I also congratulate Thom and Jeff and wish them a happy life together. On the other, it is dismaying and embarrassing to live in a country where bigotry can be allowed to put its ugly stamp on its laws concerning marriage.
Oh, indeed, and T & J agree with that as well. I know how disappointed they were that the prop 8 bigots won their battle. But we're all confident that the war will eventually go the sensible way.
And they have signed onto California's civil union, which gives them equivalent legal status. So this is their public statement and celebration.
Thank you. We had a wonderful, joyful day surrounded by our family and friends. The weather, which had been pea-soup foggy all week, turned sunny, clear and quite warm in the hour before the ceremony began -- this atheist was hard-pressed not to believe in miracles.
In lieu of traditional gifts, we suggested, to anyone who asked what we wanted or where we were registered, considering a donation to Equality California or Lambda Legal or other organization fighting for the right for all to marry; several did so, and we made a generous donation of our own. We also wore white knots on out lapels, and explained their significance -- recognizing the inequality of current state and federal regulation regarding civil marriage -- in our programs.
And our "officiant" -- my best friend of the past 20 years, a hard-living, college-dropout, retired Air Force NCO, so perhaps someone who stereotypically would not be considered a likely supporter of same-sex marriage -- was forthright in his remarks, commenting forcefully in his brook-no-nonsense radio voice, "Make no mistake: This is a marriage, and it needs no other qualifiers. It is a marriage because Jeff and Thom have decided it so. Marriage is the joining of hearts and minds and spirits, and no nations, no peoples, no governments can prevent or undo the bond that is formed here today."
We have mixed feelings as well, believe me, and we're continuing to fight for full equality on this front, but for six hours yesterday it was a relief to permit ourselves to feel mostly just pride, joy and a tremendous amount of love.
Post a Comment