A Most Amazing Day

Today I had an opportunity to participate in a history-making event, and it was pure magic. Tuesday, June 17, same-sex marriage became legal in California. At 8 am this morning, I arrived in a park in West Hollywood to volunteer for Marriage Equality USA, who set up a booth to offer free wedding photos to couples being married. When I arrived, dozens of members from all the major press outlets were there, and dozens of excited couples were lined up at the West Hollywood courthouse to receive their marriage licenses.

It was a beautiful cross-section of men and women of all different ethnicities, different religions, some with children, some with parents and family members, all here to celebrate an event most of us never expected to occur in our lifetimes. Almost all those who married were well-established couples who had been together twelve years, twenty-three years, even one pair of men who had shared a lifetime of forty-eight years. These were people who clearly understood the levity of marriage and had intertwined their lives with solid commitments for many years. These were absolutely not people who were attempting to make a shocking social or political statement.

While there was a handful (perhaps half a dozen) of protestors, all of them carrying religious signs, they were hardly noticed by the hundreds of loving, supportive friends, family, and even strangers who turned out to solidify the commitments these wonderful men and women were making. My friend Peter, whom I have known for twenty-five years, was one of the first to marry, his fantastic partner Geoff, with whom he has shared his life for twelve years.

I managed to talk with many major press outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and the New York Times, sharing information about the work Marriage Equality is doing to assure that marriage becomes legal and available to all citizens throughout the country. We also will be producing a Marriage Fair in August, with dozens of vendors offering every service neeeded for weddings, receptions, and honeymoons, and raising funds for the continuing work of Marriage Equality.

In a sillier moment, I also had a brief conversation with Satan, a protestor in a devil mask carrying a sign proclaiming "Pervert Weddings Performed Here". I stopped to say to him "Do you realize how ridiculous you are, protesting love and commitment?" He replied "Perverts can't get married.". My response to him was "You're single, aren't you?", as I walked away.

It was truly a magical day, witnessing the depth of commitment these men and women shared on an historic occasion, realizing how much hard-fought work has been done by brave people who have dedicated years to securing these rights of fairness through our judicial system, and by turning the tide of public opinion. If not for them, this day would not have happened.