A Marriage 55 Years in the Making

Congratulations to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon on their nuptials today. Del is 83 and Phyllis is 79 and they have been a couple for 55 years, but today they are officially spouses for life. "I think it's a wonderful day and I have to thank our mayor for most of it," Lyon said. "I'm very happy and very grateful for all of you."

You can send your congratulations to the newlyweds here.

And lest the party poopers try to do what poopers do...here's some myth busting from PFAW:

MYTH #1: Churches in California will be forced to perform same-sex marriages, even if they don’t want to.

FACT: No church will ever have to perform any marriage it disapproves of. That’s protected in the First Amendment of the US Constitution and will never change.

MYTH #2: County clerks can pick and choose which marriages they officiate.

FACT: Unlike religious leaders, county clerks are civic officials who are required to administer the law without discriminating. A civil marriage isn’t a religious ceremony — it’s a legal contract. County clerks need to perform their official government duties.

MYTH #3: The Supreme Court shouldn’t have done this!

FACT: The state Constitution requires equality under the law for all Californian, and the justices on the Court had an obligation to stand up for that principle. Throughout American history, courts have stood up for those who couldn’t defend their rights any other way. Those decisions were often unpopular, but now we look back on them proudly.

MYTH #4: This is bad for marriage.

FACT: This is great for marriage! When two people love each other and want to make a lifelong commitment to care for and be responsible for each other, they should be able to get married. Starting today, marriage will be stronger, not weaker. Stopping some people from getting married doesn’t help anyone’s marriage — it only hurts those who are discriminated against and their families.

On June 18th my hubby and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I pray that we will live long enough to celebrate 55 years together. No word on where the happy couple will be honeymooning!


TAGS: Gay Marriage