Florida became the 36th state to recognize marriage equality one month before I asked my boyfriend to marry me. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life.
It was also one of the most nerve-wracking. Not because I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do or I was afraid he wouldn’t say yes, I’d known for years he was “the one,” but because we were in uncharted territory.
Like a lot of couples, we’d talked about getting married – hopeful that Florida and the nation would eventually get on board with the idea – but marriage equality wasn’t just in its infancy, it was a newborn. This was still four months before it would become the law of the land.
Our firsthand experience with same-sex marriage consisted of acquaintances who’d gone out of state to wed, something I never wanted to do, and two of our best friends who married the first day they could. It was all very new, but I’m happy to say it worked out.
I’ll never forget sitting next to my fiancé when the news broke that the Supreme Court legalized our love in all 50 states. We were on cloud nine. In that beautiful moment the nation felt like a better place and like our future was more secure.
Then came 2016. The LGBTQ community suffered incalculable loss in Orlando and thanks to the electoral college, the nation turned its back on decency by electing Donald Trump as president. We were married just three days after the election, a very bright spot in what became a very dismal year.
A number of loved ones who’d voted for Trump assured us, even on our wedding day, that he wouldn’t be a problem for our community or pose any risk to our new marriage. But it didn’t take long for him to prove them wrong.
The world quickly began to feel very different from the one we were engaged in. Trump targeted the LGBTQ community and every other minority on his slightest whim, affirming every fear I had about his candidacy. Perhaps worst of all, he stacked the Supreme Court with conservatives.
Whatever your thoughts on Hillary Clinton – and I still maintain that she was the most qualified American to ever run for president – she wouldn’t have done that. Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett would not be serving on the nation’s highest court, a threat to our entire community.
They are the lasting effects of Trump’s continued attack on human rights. There’s no clearer example than the Supreme Court’s draft opinion leaked earlier this month, which found that they will likely overturn Roe v. Wade.
The landmark 1973 ruling protects the American “right to privacy” regarding the choice to have an abortion. While conservatives have long sought its demise, the ruling has stood firm for decades.
My position on abortion has always been simple: to shut up. I’ve always believed in choice because as someone who will never be pregnant, how could I possibly tell someone else how they should handle a pregnancy? It’s just never made sense to me.
The right to reproductive freedom is also an LGBTQ right. Not only because so many members of our community can become pregnant but because Roe v. Wade is tied to Obergefell v. Hodges, the case legalizing marriage equality. The American “right to privacy” is referenced in each and dismantling it for one undoubtedly hurts the other.
It’s something that anti-LGBTQ Justice Samuel Alito fully understands. He criticizes the legalization of same-sex marriage in his draft opinion.
It’s not yet certain that the court will overturn Roe, or directly target Obergefell, but this nation’s loudest conservatives are ready to do both. We need only look at the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ laws in state legislatures around the country, or even state statutes like Florida’s.
More than six years after marriage equality came here, it still targets same-sex marriage. Addressing domestic relations, Florida notes “for purposes of interpreting any state statute or rule, the term ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”
For the right to choose, for the right to love who we love and be who we are, we need to fight louder and prouder than ever before. It’s something to think about this Pride Month, which we examine the origins of in this issue.
We also detail many of this year’s returning events while checking in with legendary LGBTQ entertainers coming to a stage and screen near you. We chat with comedians Sandra Bernhard and Margaret Cho and much more.
Watermark strives to bring you a variety of stories, your stories. Please stay safe, stay informed and enjoy this latest issue.
