It’s been a year since marriage equality became the law of the land as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the last of the anti-same-sex marriage laws. I watched all of this up close, chronicling the fight for eight and a half years as the author of the Marriage Equality Watch blog. I started in January, 2008, as the anti LGBT forces were gathering signatures to put Prop. 8 on the ballot, and just before the California Supreme Court opened the doors to Mark and I and people like us to get married in the state.
In early 2015, as we nervously awaited the final U.S. Supreme Court ruling, I was asked to write a story about the road to marriage. Gay, married author B.G. Thomas invited me and two other married authors to create stories for a planned anthology. I had been writing and selling LGBT fiction for about a year at that point, and I jumped at the chance, and the resulting story, Flames, is one of my favorites to date. But it’s only one of four great stories in A More Perfect Union:
Someday, by B.G. Thomas
Lucas Arrowood is walking to school on his first day of kindergarten when he meets Dalton Churchill – a boy who stops and helps him tie his shoe. He knows from that moment he is going to marry that boy one day. “Boys can’t marry other boys,” his mother explains, but that doesn’t stop Lucas. He knows what he wants.
He and Dalton become best friends—and then, no matter how much he resists, Dalton falls in love with Lucas. Dalton’s very conservative family can’t accept that their boy loves another boy, but finally Dalton stands up for love and for Lucas. Still, he declares he won’t marry Lucas until it is legal everywhere. He hates the “Commitment Ceremonies” gay men have. They aren’t the real thing. Why bother?
So Lucas waits for his day. The day same-sex marriage finally becomes legal and he can be joined forever with the love of his life.
Flames, by J. Scott Coatsworth
Alex and Gio had a big fight, and Alex ran away. Then a fire at home destroyed the life they had built together, and threatened to take Gio away from him.
Alex had always thought love was enough to keep them together. Why did they need wedding rings or legal certificates? But now, with Gio lost in a coma, his mother has banished Alex from his side.
What if Alex’s voice is the only thing that can bring Gio back from the brink? Their memories are all Gio has left, and the urge to just let go is getting stronger.
Still, nothing can keep Alex from Gio’s side. If it’s against the rules, he’ll break them. In stolen moments alone together, Alex fights to bring him back, one memory at a time.
Destined, by Jamie Fessenden
When Jay and Wallace first meet at an LGBTQ group, they have no idea they’ll be dating six years later. In fact, they quickly forget each other’s names. But although fate continues to throw them together, the timing is never quite right. Finally they’re both single and realize they want to be together… but now they can’t find each other! With determination and the help of mutual friends, Jay and Wallace can finally pursue the relationship they’ve both wanted for so long.
It’s only the beginning of the battles they’ll face to build a life together.
From disapproving family members all the way to the state legislature, Jay and Wallace’s road to happily ever after is littered with obstacles. But they’ve come too far to give up the fight.
Jeordi and Tom, by Michael Murphy
Living as an open, loving gay couple in the rural South isn’t easy—even today.
When Jeordi and Tom move in together and come out to their families, Jeordi’s family does not take the news especially well. When yelling doesn’t work, they send in one sibling after another to try to separate the couple. When that fails, they call out their pastor to help Jeordi see the error of his ways. But Jeordi’s love for Tom is greater than anything they throw at them.
When an accident sends Jeordi to the hospital, his family goes too far when they try to keep Tom from visiting his partner. Jeordi and Tom are determined to do everything in their power to gain legal protection so this can never happen again. But when a bigoted county clerk refuses to issue them a marriage license, Jeordi decides a big, bold effort is called for, which is precisely what he sets in motion so no one can ever separate him from Tom again.
As I write this, I’m in a bit of a bittersweet mood. On the one hand, the first anniversary of marriage equality reminds me how far we’ve come. When Mark and I met in 1992, the idea of marrying one another in a legally recognized way seemed patently impossible.
My first “gay wedding” was held in 1989 at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. Two of our gay friends wanted to have a wedding ceremony. So five of us went into the beautiful stands of bamboo there and found an isolated spot. The three friends hovered protectively around the couple as they whispered their vows and exchanged rings. We knew if anyone saw what we were doing, there could be consequences.
At best, couples who wanted to marry back then were laughed at. At worst, there could be violence.
We are at an amazing moment in our history. We have won marriage, and a measure of acceptance that’s unprecedented in modern times.
And then an event like the Pulse Nightclub shooting comes along to remind us how far we have yet to go – that not only are there those who think we’re sinful, but those who believe we are wicked and worthy of derision and violence. And just like that, the illusion of acceptance and safety is shattered.
I don’t accept that this is the way the world has to be.
What I can do, what I must do, even though it is so hard at the moment, is to put a little more love out into the world. I don’t care about your color, your gender or your physical appearance.
You are my community, my family. Only together can we come though terrible events like this whole.
