We were a part of an historic moment in this country. 117th in line to get our marriage license in Cambridge, MA at midnight, May 17th 2004. Amidst a sea of supporters we filed our way into City Hall to apply for our license. And yep, there were protesters, but man did our supporters outweigh them.
A handful of days later we were back to get married in front of an intimate group of friends and family. Our friends married alongside us. Our own trailblazers, the first in our circle to have a baby. She was witness to her moms' marriage at the ripe old age of 6 weeks.
We got married that day not knowing if Mitt Romney would be successful in trying to stop us, or overturn it just days later. He argued aggressively against our families - trying to invoke laws from the early 1900s barring black people from marrying white people. (Chew on that for a moment, will you?)
At the time we knew that Massachusetts would pave the way, but Massachusetts, our plaintiff couples, they uncorked the bottle of wine and progress is flowing. Nine years later, 12 states (12!) and DC have adopted marriage equality.
There remains a long, long way to go. Though our marriage is recognized in our state, we still lack more than 1,138 federal rights that straight married couples have. In other states it is perfectly legal to ban one from seeing the other in the hospital. We pay more in taxes. We are not eligible for Social Security Benefits. Though on Arden's birth certificate for her to legally be mine requires adoption. And on and on and on. With any luck, DOMA will be a thing of the past come June, and these inequalities will start to disappear.
For now, we remain forever grateful to our plaintiffs, and GLAD's Mary Bonauto, for changing the course of history.
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