Leanne and Moya, brides from San Francisco, braved last week's Vancouver chill to legalize the wedding that had been invalidated in California nearly three years ago. They were one of the hundreds of couples snaked around San Francisco's City Hall in the rain after Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Feb 14, 2004. Every couple was "unwed" a scant seven months later.
This time, all signals were go! While the ocean churned brown and turbulent behind the 30 guests and the wind tossed icy knives, the brides held hands, and their daughter, Lucy, to repeat their vows.
Now they are well and truly hitched, with no invalidating to follow! Frost-bitten, I'd be willing to guess, but so happy. They told us they loved in particular the part of their ceremony where Johanna Hickey, their marriage commissioner, had them repeat the phrase that states that they know of no legal impediment to their marriage. It's a pretty heady phrase for gays and lesbians, and packs a wallop.
It's a misty moment for my wife, Joy, and I too. We cried when we repeated those words to each other in June of 2003, and I cry at almost every wedding when I hear them again. It makes me stop and remember our long court case, and how iffy the end result seemed at the beginning, and how significant and empowering the victory was, for Canadians, of course, but also for couples around the world.
Joy and I stop every so often and shake ourselves. Is same-sex marriage really legal? Did we really have a part in making it so? The legal victories in Spain, Massachusetts and South Africa were no doubt partially influenced by ours. It changed the world, and it--always, always--makes us proud.
The photograph below, showing Leanne and Moya's rings on a sprig of yet-to-pop cherry blossom, signifies the fact that with this spring wedding, everything is refreshed and newly growing.
Congratulations, new wives!
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