It’s your classic boy meets
girls story, except it’s a boy meets boy, or girl meets girl story.
Jamie
first meets Taylor at a surprise party for someone they
both barely know. Jamie is coming out of
a bad break up and Taylor
is drug along by well-meaning friends.
Something about Taylor
catches Jamie’s eye at once.
They are introduced briefly,
but Jamie interprets Taylor’s shyness for disinterest. Later when they cross
paths again volunteering at the food bank, they find the chemistry is mutual, they
soon become inseparable.
To everyone’s amazement it is
Taylor who proposes, Jamie is swept away.
It is Valentine’s Day 2004
and the mayor of San Francisco has just directed the county clerk to start
issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Jamie and Taylor start making
their plans, working on the invite list and checking out venues. Three weeks
later on the night of their engagement party the California Supreme Court
issues a stay ordering no further licenses pending court review.
Jamie and Taylor are deflated,
but friends counsel them that it will likely be just a minor delay. However, six
months later the state rules that the mayor had exceeded his authority and
invalidates any same sex marriages that had taken place that February.
Jamie and Taylor take down
their wedding planning board and pack it, along with the guest list, venue
photos, menus and fabric swatches, in a bin and place it in the attic.
They discuss having a
ceremony anyway but, having tasted the idea of being legally married, anything
less feels like too much of a compromise.
They try to go back to the
way things were, but there is a shadow cast over their relationship now. Sometimes it fades away a bit, but then there
is another court issuance that suggests hope or further disillusions them. The
state senate passes a bill eliminating gender requirements for marriage, but
Governor Schwarzenegger vetoes it.
Then, in the summer of 2008,
the court rules that denying marriage to same sex couples is unconstitutional
and weddings begin again at city hall.
Jamie and Taylor are overjoyed!
But in November, when it passes with 52% of the vote, they cancel their plans once again. But this time is different for them. Rather than retreating back to the way things were before, they mobilized. The march, they write letters, they harness their social networks, friends and fellow employees to do the same.
The battle finally reaches the Supreme Court and in June 2013 and the court denies the appeal. San Francisco issues a one-sentence statement, "The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately."
Jamie and Taylor marry on February 14, 2014. Exactly 10 years from when they were first engaged. Their adopted children are their ring bearers.
They throw a spontaneous party and invited their friends over to “unbox” their wedding plans. They decide right away on February 14, 2009 as their wedding date. Exactly five years from when they first became engaged.
When haters forwarded Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, they take it in stride and continue with their plans.
Again the courts issued edicts of hope and disillusionment – the US District court declares Prop 8 unconstitutional, but proponents appeal the ruling. This just fuels their resolve. Jamie and Taylor continue to march, write letters, and further the cause.
The Ninth Circuit affirms that Proposition 8 violates the US Constitution, but Proponents appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. Jamie and Taylor maintain their resolve.
No comments:
Post a Comment