16 years together!
Chris and I met at a party at Miami University in the spring of 1991. We went our separate ways for the summer and got back in touch when we returned in the fall. On August 31, 1992 we went to see “Death Becomes Her” at the Princess Theaters and this 1st date is what we’ve always celebrated as our anniversary.
So 16 years, 4 apartments, 3 houses, a condo, 3 states and a territory, 5 cars, 2 dogs, and innumerable friends and memories later I don’t think there’s a thing I would want to change.
I’d love to share some pics from those early days, but they’re all in the shipping container with all our other stuff somewhere in San Juan. So, instead I thought this would be a perfect occasion to re-share some wedding photos.
We were married in February 2004 in the first wave of legal** gay marriages in San Francisco. I was in Zurich for a professional conference when the whole things started and was sure that it would be shut down by the time I returned and we’d miss out. But happily things continued for a second week.
The day we were married at San Francisco city hall was the same day that Bush proposed a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, so the press was covering things with renewed fervor. We were interviewed by a CNN camera crew and they asked if they could shoot the ceremony. (Interview didn’t make it, but clips of the ceremony were on News Night with Aaron Brown.)
Since we’d been together for 11 years at that point, I didn’t expect marriage to have a big impact on me. But I found the act of standing up publicly to announce and confirm my love and commitment to be one of the most moving and powerful moments of my life.
**Later of course it was decided that this was not actually legal. While I’ll always be thankful to Gavin Newsom for taking a powerful stand, I would have to admit that I don’t think this falls within scope of mayoral power. I loved tone of the letter we got from the city, explaining that while they didn’t think it was right, we were not legally married. They offered to either refund our license fees or donate them to the legal fund to fight for gay marriage.
