Until we have marriage equality in this country, same-sex couples find they have to be creative about how to get married, and Deirdre and Claire were very creative. They had a wedding ceremony at the foot of Mt. Baker, WA, with their West Coast friends and family in July. Then the journey came to the East Coast last Sunday with a gathering of East Coast family and friends.
It was my honor to lead a ceremony at The Lake Club on Staten Island. In the ceremony, Claire and Deirdre removed their wedding rings and passed them among all the guests for their blessings. They put the rings in a handmade box (by Claire for Deirdre for their first Christmas), and they took the box to Connecticut the next day for their legal marriage.
Deirdre's brother gave an equally emotional and rational toast in support of marriage rights, which was followed by words I read from a Massachusetts court decision. From Justice Marshall:
... Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family.... The decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition.
It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has been long termed a ‘civil right.’ Without the right to choose to marry, one is excluded from the full range of human experience.
I congratulate Deirdre and Claire for their "momentous act of self-definition" by marrying each other. May there come a time soon when all American can marry the person they choose.
Julie Laudicina, Celebrant!
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