|
OutLoud
by Sally Sheklow
WEDDED BLISS
Like it or not, marriage equality is in the
air
My yet-to-be-lawfully wedded wife and I are
sitting in front of the computer screen, weeping.
No, the system hasn't crashed. Nobody died, and
neither of us has PMS. These are tears of joy,
baby. It’s happening. Equality is in the
air and on the bandwidth. Justice is coming,
as no doubt are many of the happy couples who
are free at last to consummate their finally
legal matrimony.
Wifey leans in close, and we read about how
San Francisco’s City Hall keeps issuing
marriage licenses to same-sex couples, no matter
how hard Governor Rumpelstiltzenegger jumps up
and down. These marriage licenses are for real,
as legit as vehicle registrations, as undeniable
as birth certificates.
We can hardly believe we are witnessing this
historic moment (thanks to our Internet connection)
right here in our own home in Eugene, Oregon.
The whole world is watching as hundreds of “Spouses
for Life” celebrate their love.
“Will you marry me?” I ask my beloved.
“Yes! Will you?”
In our 16 years together, we have pledged our
troth so many times I’ve lost count. We
will seal the real deal, we’ve agreed,
when it’s legal not just in San Francisco
or Massachusetts, but in every podunk town in
the whole country. I know it will be. Marriage
equality is barreling down the pike. We’re
hearing rumblings in Chicago and Salt Lake City
and New Mexico’s Sandoval County. We feel
it in the stream of reports documenting San Francisco’s
3,000-plus same-sex weddings so far. Nothing
can stop the flow of freedom—or tears.
My gal and I cuddle up in our cozy den on this
drizzly Sunday morning, passing each other the
Kleenex and holding hands, our matching gold
bands twinkling. I blubber my way through a photojournal
account of well-wishers throwing rice and rose
petals as each pair of beaming brides and gleeful
grooms emerges from City Hall waving their official
papers. Midwesterners send flowers from the heartland
addressed to “The Happy Couple” for
anyone waiting in line for their marriage license.
Photo after photo shows joyous newlyweds receiving
this enormous outpouring of love—love that
has been dammed up behind years of discrimination
and hate. Now the dam is bursting. Under all
this loving attention, the myths and stereotypes
of our sub-humanity are washing away, as are
the contents of my sinuses. Wifey and I hug,
grab more tissue and let it flow.
The love surging out to the newlyweds in San
Francisco spreads over us—all of us—after
all these years of coming out of the closet only
to face disinheritance and excommunication and
dishonorable discharge. Here is the long-awaited
payoff for all the marches and rallies and campaigns
to get our human legitimacy recognized. Finally,
decades of panels and speakers’ bureaus
and telling the truth of our lives to the people
next to us on airplanes have brought us to this
day.
This is the cherry on top of all the organizing,
lobbying, and canvassing; of being here, queer,
and getting used to it; of all our work to relegate
our second-class citizenship to the history books.
Our love for each other touches people’s
hearts. When we publicly take the one we love
to have and to hold until death do us part, we
turn the tide of history.
My cousin Kim calls from San Francisco. She
and her girlfriend just got married. There was
no time for announcements or invitations or planning.
Not knowing if Bush’s storm troopers would
swoop in and shut down City Hall, the brides-to-be
waited in line four hours. San Francisco’s
city clerks and deputies volunteered to pull
extra duty and made Kim and Deb’s devotion
official at last. Then the twosome went out to
dinner with their new in-laws, and the chef came
to their table with a special flaming dessert—no
charge—in honor of their nuptials.
My gal and I blow our noses, and effuse our
Mazel Tovs. We’re so happy for them, so
happy for everyone. So proud.
Sally Sheklow contributes monthly to OutSmart.
TWO BY TWO
See the photos that made Sally and Enid cry:
www.authenti-city.com/Wedding.htm
www.ephemera.org/sets/?album=justlymarried
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3488431.stm.
If you have any comments about this article,
please email them to letters@outsmartmagazine.com.
|
