InnerTeub

This past Friday, my dear friend Chris married his boyfriend, Phillip.

I don’t want to discuss their wedding in marriage in terms of politics, because… it’s their wedding. It’s not a statement. But given this time in history, it feels weird to ignore it. Given this, I hope you’ll forgive me if I share with you a portion of the Best Man’s toast, a statement that so beautifully tied together the common theme of hope and dreams that accompanies both marriage and political change:

So maybe if I can’t talk about Philip and Chris, I can talk about dreams.

Because dreams are extraordinary things.  They take us places that go beyond conscious imagination.  And we certainly are beyond what we could have ever consciously imagined.  For someone has said not only that he LIKES Chris, but that he loves him.  And that is extraordinary. [Ed. Note: snerk!]

And what we have gathered for together today, is really extraordinary, and up until recently, would have been beyond our dreams.

I’d like to read to you a passage.

Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations.

Barred access to the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage, a person who enters into an intimate, exclusive union with another of the same sex is arbitrarily deprived of membership in one of our community’s most rewarding and cherished institutions. That exclusion is incompatible with the constitutional principles of respect for individual autonomy and equality under law.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 2004.

Only 6 years ago in the United States, it was, for the most of us, beyond our dreams that two men would be able to make the commitment embodied in marriage and assume the obligations.   Yet here we are, living beyond our dreams.

There’s been so much talk lately of “It Gets Better.” And there should be; it does get better. It got better right before my eyes, this past Friday night.

I’m so happy for my friends. I hope they continue to live well, well beyond their dreams.