"I married my girlfriend
(the day it became legal!)"
Yvonne, 20, believes all relationships, like the love she has with Kaitlin, 21, deserves equal respect.
As Told to: Jessica Press
I’ve always been out going, but when I met Kaitlin, I was tongue-tied: She walked into the gay youth center where I volunteered in high school, and she was so beautiful and smart. I looked for any excuse to talk to her. Eventually I worked up the courage to ask her to dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant.
We were so nervous! But I could tell Kaitlin was into me too. We both kept smiling and giggling, and if there was an awkward silence, Kaitlin would try to put me at ease by making a joke about it, like, “Okaaay, let’s talk about something else now!” It turned out Kaitlin didn’t even like Thai food-but it didn’t matter because we were having so much fun.
Over the next few months, we kept hanging out casually. But while I was on a trip to Africa the following summer, I got an e-mail from Kaitlin that made my heart jump: “I’m in love with you, and I want to be together,” she had written. I flew back a few weeks later and Kaitlin was waiting for me at the airport. We spent every single day together before I left for college that fall.
True Soul Mates
Once I started college, I really appreciated how amazing Kaitlin is: When I got a mono, she made my meals, did my laundry, brought me ice pops when I was feverish, and rented movies for us to cuddle up and watch. Even with little things, like my feeling self-conscious about putting on weight, Kaitlin made me feel so loved: I’d put on a dress and feel fat, and she’d tell me I looked beautiful. It was like she was the mirror I needed to see the real me. Every time I looked at her, I wanted to be with her forever.
Then one day last fall, Kaitlin asked me to go for a walk. She took my iPod and gave me one earbud as she listened to the other. She hit play, and “My Love” by Justin Timberlake came on. When it got to the lyric “This ring here presents my heart/But there’s just one thing I need from you (say ‘I do’),” Kaitlin opened her hand, and there were two rings inside. She asked, “Will you marry me?” and I blurted out, “Of course!” it was the happiest moment of my whole life.
The Power of Love
At the time, gay marriage wasn’t legal in California (where we live), so we got a “domestic partnership.” It made our commitment formal, but we were still denied legal rights of married couples, like tax benefits, hospital visitations, and-most important-the right to call Kaitlin my wife. So when it became legal to wed in California this past summer, we went to a judge that day to tie the knot.
A friend was skeptical-she thought we were too young-but it’s made our relationship ever stronger: It made feels like nothing can break us apart now. When people say they’re against it, I say everyone deserves to be treated equally: Why should anyone be denied the kind of love and happiness I’ve found?
Where The
Story
Came From
The story of "i married my girlfriend (the day it became legal!" is from Seventeen magazine November 2008. We'd like to notify that we're giving the credit of the story to the original publishers the way it should be, but we published one copy of the story for it's contents on a LGBT issue that might help our readers to relate and find more gay-common related stuff that could seeks them a veiw on more LGBT issues.