Today is Wednesday, 16 June 2011.
We've all had other lives. i'm proud to have officiated a gay marriages in the US.
It was October ’73, month of the Middle East War, which is why I can locate the date.
I was Associate Director of the Wesley Foundation (a Methodist thing) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and sort of a minister for peace and justice. Back in the day, some of us thought we could use religion for progressive purposes.
Didn’t work out.
Two sophomore women came to my office.
“We hear you’re the radical minister. Will you marry us?”
ME: “It won’t be legal, but if it's something between you in your hearts, it's good enough for me.”
“Cool”.
They were, gosh, Southern Baptists and devout. Perhaps The State refused them, but they believed that God did not.
We wrote vows together, and they exchanged them beside Theta Pond on campus, on a beautiful autumn afternoon, with in attendance every queer who had the guts to be there, and a few straights.
Reception at the Foundation, I’d baked a shitload of pumpkin bread, and BYOB, and the party went far into the night.
I wish I could recall their names, and wonder where they are now.
All honour to them, and their love.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
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