Being Part of History

In February 2004, Ingrid and I were married in the “civil disobedience” weddings, when the mayor decided to legalize same-sex weddings in San Francisco. We stood in line at City Hall for hours, with hundreds of other couples who knew that the window would be closing any day, and who were willing and able to stand in line for hours to walk through that window. (Those were the weddings that got annulled by the State of California.)

In November 2005, we had what we tend to think of as our “real” wedding: the one where we spent months writing our vows, the one with the guests and the dancing and the dresses and the cake, the one with no legal standing, the one where our celebrant, Rebecca Hensler, said, “By the power vested in me by Ingrid and Greta…”

In June 2008, we were married at City Hall again, during that brief window after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, and before Prop 8 passed banning it again. We were one of the roughly 18,000 same-sex couples in California who, after Prop 8 passed, got to have a deeply strange “special right”: the right to be a married same-sex couple whose marriage was legally recognized by the State of California.

“We make a little history, baby/Every time you come around.” -Nick Cave.

I still do, sweetie.

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Being Part of History
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6 thoughts on “Being Part of History

  1. 1

    I’m so happy for you and Ingrid and all the other couples who were finally acknowledged today. After 30 years of marriage I’m still a sucker for a good love story.

    Damnit, I think there’s there’s something in my eye…

  2. 4

    “By the power vested in me by Ingrid and Greta…”

    I really like that. So much more meaningful and personal than “God” or “the state of X.”

  3. Ani
    5

    Greta, this is so sweet.

    And I just want to say Thank You. I know you and Ingrid are among the people who have been participating in the LGBT community and fighting for rights since before I was born.

  4. 6

    Back in 1990, years before my wife and I got married, “The Ship Song” was one of our unofficial songs, too.

    Gee, it’s almost like people are people.

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