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Pictorials The 2004 March for Women’s Lives
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Partners for Life
By Jodi Davis
My partner and I met through
a mutual friend a few years ago, and have been inseparable ever since. On our one month anniversary I moved out of
my parent’s house for the first time and in with my future “Spouse for
Life”. We always talked about
marriage, and how much we wanted it.
We wanted to exchange rings, we wanted to profess our undying love in
front of our loved ones, and we wanted all the rights that go along with
marriage. We had rings, and we knew
that we were practically “married”, but there is a definite difference
between practically and actually. We hoped that one day in our lifetime, human
rights violations would cease to exist, and we would be allowed to
marry. When the mayor of San Francisco
decided to start issuing licenses to same sex couples, politically we were so
excited. Then it dawned on us, why
don’t we go to San Francisco and get married? Even if only for one week of
legality, I could still marry the one that I love. The excitement then began. We looked at busy school
schedules and work schedules and realized that it was going to be difficult
but that it could be done. The weekend
before we started our Caravan up to San Francisco, the city began taking
appointments only, a change that benefited us greatly. We called at eight in
the morning the first moment they were taking appointments, and made an
appointment for Friday February 27, 2004.
This is when it really sunk in.
We drove all night Thursday
the 26th, and arrived in San Francisco at four in the
morning. Amy and I only had seven more
hours to wait. When we arrived at City
Hall, the city was bustling. People were
honking to show their support, and the media did not seem to let up. When we walked through the metal
detectors at City Hall, we were promptly greeted by a volunteer from the
“Freedom to Marry” campaign; they helped us through the steps. They were all so excited that all of their
hard work had finally paid off. We filled out the forms, and
went back to find out who would be officiating our ceremony. We met the man who had been a volunteer and
deputized for the day, and had also married his partner on Valentine’s
Day. He made it all so special for
us. Even gave us a copy of our vows so
we could read them later in case we were too nervous to coherently listen. Standing in City Hall,
holding hands with the woman I would lay my life down for, with our closest
friends looking on was the most amazingly wonderful moment of my life. I always knew I would be nervous on my
wedding day; I had no idea what it would feel like. More importantly, I did not
think much would change afterward.
It’s amazing the feeling you get after your love is recognized. I really feel calm, collected, and at
peace. It feels as though everything
that my partner and I felt came together on that piece of paper and became
even stronger. Marriage may be a privilege and not a right, or a right and
not a privilege, but in my opinion as soon as you give heterosexual couples
the “right” or the “privilege” it becomes the RIGHT of all couples to be able
to take part in this tradition. The
government speaks of the “sanctity” of marriage, and that by allowing same
sex couples the right to marry it would somehow jeopardize the sanctity of
marriage. I say that the sanctity of
marriage no longer exists, we have television shows called “Who wants to
marry a millionaire” and “The Bachelor”, where people genuinely marry based
on superficiality. The love that I
feel for Amy is deep within me, I literally would lay my life down for her,
and I know that the rest of my life will be spent with her by my side. Is our marriage putting other marriages in
jeopardy? What a ridiculous
thought. By denying same sex couples
the right to marry, you are denying them the right to solidify their love.
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1. Get
the low down on the digits! 2. A Contemporary Definition of
Marriage
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