What a week for marriage equality! Washington state has signed it into law, Maryland is getting close (again), New Jersey is in an interesting legislative-executive dance.
And then there's Virginia. Today I was honored to speak at an interfaith rally that supported my friends Rev. Karen Rasmussen and Barb Brehm as they applied for a marriage license at the Fairfax County Courthouse. Their application was rejected, and it was my task to share that news with the 300 people gathered together.
Of course the rejection wasn't a surprise to anyone--but I was taken by surprise at how much I felt it nonetheless. As Karen and Barb walked back to the group, we sang "There Is More Love Somewhere," and I felt tears running down my cheeks. A rejection, even when expected, is still a rejection, and in that moment I felt so keenly that it was a rejection of the love, respect, and care my friends have shared for 26 years.
But I could also feel that those tears were anticipatory, and that what they were anticipating was joy. Because the truth is that things are changing in this country. Virginia may not be next on the list of states to get marriage equality--I'd be surprised if it was--but it will be on that list, one day.
A Baptist minister who spoke at the rally echoed the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking in Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. How long, the minister asked us, would Karen and Barb have to wait for their union to be recognized? How long?
Not long! we shouted. And I believe it.
1 comment:
Good work. It won't be long.
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