Monday, June 16, 2008 at 5 p.m., California made history in legalizing marriage for same-sex couples in that state.
The traditional marriage license was changed to read Party A and Party B in place of "Bride" and "Groom". Here in New Hampshire we were referred to as Person A and Person B which to me is a lot more realistic designation. I would have preferred "Wife A" and "Wife B" but I wasn't invited to offer an opinion. Anyway I was so happy to have the ceremony at our ages and in our lifetimes it didn't matter.
Parties A and B in California who were the first to tie the knot are women Kay and I met a long time ago at a Lesbian Celebration in Provincetown, MA called Golden Threads. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, both in their late 80's, have been together 55 years. God Bless them!! The 28 years Kay and I have been together dwindles in comparison.
A word to all couples who have either a marriage or civil union certificate and who might ever be questioned by any authority as to their right to visit in ICU, request medical records for their spouse, make any decisions that might be challenged legally do what we did - have a photocopy made of your certificate, reduce it to wallet size, laminate it and carry it in your wallets at all times. A friend in MA needed to pick up her wife's x-rays and deliver them to a hospital in which her spouse was confined. She was denied access to the x-rays and had to return home and get their license and take it back for proof she was within her legal rights to obtain the x-rays.
My wish for all same-sex California couples is recognize what you have, feel larger than life as you walk with your heads held higher than ever......I salute you and raise a toast to happiness in your new found legal status.
And now let's get those Federal rights that would entitle us to over 1,000 benefits not offered by the individual states.
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Since we weren't able to connect to get you some publicity and subjects to interview, I've started my own and the first set is running at my blog www.hahnathome.com. They started Monday and will run through Sunday as part of Pride Month.
I hope you can stop by and read. A slightly different demographic than your interest area, but hope you can appreciate.
I hope you can get your email issues squared away and make that profnet query work for you.
Best, Lori
Lori - thanks for your input and for the strength of your belief in our mutual goals. I appreciate it more than I can say. Mary Lou
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