May 25, 2004
The Wedding Section Comes Through After All
Apologies to the Section. When I had to leisure read it with a fine tooth comb , in the bottom corner of the last page, without a photo , was the wedding of Hillary Goodridge and Julie Goodrige, lead plaintiffs in the case the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to allow same-sex marriage. It never pays to hurry. I should have had a clue that it was there, because it's longer than the usual announcement-- always a sign of something pithy.
Thank goodness Hillary is an executive at the Unitarian Universalist Church. Some wedding photos are published on their website. If you clicked, you will see the Goodridge's wedding cake was donated, so sweet - but not by anyone from Amy Domini , who introduced the pair, ended her wedding speech with "Julie, Hillary, you two may just blow my mind. You take a little thing like a fix-up and turn it into a court case. You take a little thing like a court case and turn it into a national crisis. You take a little thing like a national crisis and turn it into a celebration. And finally, you take a little thing like a joyful celebration and turn it into nothing less than equality, dignity and righteousness for the millions who will now have the right and the courage to say, “I love you….I do” before God, and each other, in this country. " Amy may have improvised from her written document on the Unitarian Universalist site, because the Times had a different version, punchier "You introduce a couple of people, and maybe encourage them a bit, and what happens? A national crisis. The fault line for the presidential election. The coming of Armageddon."
Hillary and Julie are perfect poster girls. They are attractive, smart, clean cut, well educated, executive, articulate, suburban soccer moms. They do not scare us with piercings, mohawks or studded leather wardrobes. They look like just like us; actually much better.
Fame has pumped their googles into the hundreds. I was looking for googles on the girls individually, and I could hardly find one. (Hillary handles rentals for their cottage on Cape Cod.) It seems that they are forever bound together in cyberspace, as well.
On a separate, but related subject, I got an apologetic message from a lesbian friend yesterday. She had called me back because she had been to three weddings over the weekend, plus a celebration outside of Cambridge City Hall, on Sunday night, that lasted into the wee hours. At one of the weddings, every guest was given a sticker with the name of a state on it, which they were required to wear for the bouquet catching ritual. The "state" that caught the bouquet, was the next state to legalize same-sex marriage. You will all be relieved to hear that Vermont caught the bouquet, rather than Utah. Maybe it was rigged. She was New Jersey.
All of my gay and lesbian friends have been so touched, and actually a bit surprised, by the outpouring of support from the community for them. It has been a joyful interlude indeed.
Photo note: Another excuse for a white flower. They are in abundant supply.
Posted by Dakota at May 25, 2004 06:50 AM