The team behind Queerly Beloved were not the only people with the idea to throw a big gay wedding, once the election news broke. In late November, the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library in Ohio hosted “Legally Wed,” a marriage protection information session, which drew a crowd of 500, including ten couples who were married right then and there. Charis Books & More in Decatur, Georgia hosted an entire day of gay weddings on Jan. 19. A number of Rochester, NY Unitarian churches threw a Big Gay Wedding Day earlier this month. And in Iowa, Chaplain Anitta Milloro with lesbians of Iowa has created a resource similar to Michelle’s connecting couples who want to tie the knot before Jan. 20 with vendors willing to provide free services.
And the history of mass queer weddings goes back before the advent of legal gay marriage in the U.S. itself, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. In 2004, then-mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom started granting marriage licenses to gay couples, prompting queers from all over the state and even the country to descend on the city and stand in a line that wrapped around City Hall, braving the rain for the chance to get a marriage certificate. That same year, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage, following the state Supreme Court’s decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
Queers have always been good at celebrating, even when things look pretty dark. Michelle says that while the impending inauguration may have been the impetus behind the event, the celebration was so much more than its context.