Sidney and Diane met at an April Fool’s Day party in 2006. They began dating the next day and fell in love. They weren’t quite ready to get married in the summer of 2008, when California was granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They told me they hadn’t wanted to get married “just because they could,” and while they were (of course) opposed to California's Proposition 8 , they weren’t looking to make a political statement with their nuptials. By year-end 2008, however, Sidney and Diane had reached a decision. They loved each other. They wanted to spend their lives together. They knew that the State of California wouldn’t give them a marriage license but they wanted to get married anyway. They wanted a wedding for their families, for their friends, for each other. As I sat with Sidney and Diane through our pre-marital sessions, I saw the tenderness and respect with which they treated each other, the tru...
Life & Death, Faith & Doubt, Here & There