We tied the knot four years ago today

As Kate and I take time to celebrate our union, we also celebrate all the recent marriages in California; may the voters in that state turn away the disgusting amendment that will be on the ballot in November and preserve marriage equality in the Golden State. Good luck as well to Arizona and Florida advocates of our right to marry -- may those voters turn away the hate amendments at the polls as well.

Marriage equality continues to thrive in small pockets in our country, and one of the best ways we can cultivate support and effect change is to bring those marriages back home where these commitments are not legally recognized. Not to challenge the legal wrong, mind you (it's going to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the end), but to become visible married couples in our communities - living marriage out of the closet before our friends, neighbors, and work colleagues.

Visibility challenges assumptions; show willingness to explain to potential allies how your legal-somewhere-else marriage is denied where you live.

The fact is we will prove by example that our relationships will not cause an end to anyone else's marriage or destroy society, and it will move all of us closer to full civil equality.

***

That year we wrote Senator Elizabeth Dole and the White House about our opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment and received these responses (note how the form letter from Dole addressed us as "Catharine and Pamela Spaulding" -- what an irony!). Dole | Bush

Our blast-from-the-past photo album is up at my pad.