My 14 faves of '14: Legal marriage!

#14! Thanks for reading my list!

By far, my favorite thing of 2014 is that Mike and I got legally married on February 14th.

What a day. I still tear up just thinking of it.

We were first married on April 30, 2005, yet that marriage was not legal. That was the best day of my life, marrying my love, my best friend in our church in front of 160 friends and family.

Yet as laws were changing we decided we wanted to be legal. So we went to our favorite spot, Torrey Pines State Beach, and got married. Our dear friend Jim did the honors.

The experience blew my mind. Just getting our marriage license was amazing, and emotional!

Here are a few photos:

Since then legal marriage has come to Colorado, so our marriage is recognized here!

Definitely my favorite thing/day of 2014!

Thanks for reading!

Let freedom ring

I remember the first time I heard a religious extremist in the US call herself a patriot. And those agreeing with her hateful rhetoric also called themselves patriots.

Religious extremists in the US like to talk about things like that, and use words like freedom and liberty often.

Many of them point to Jesus as they use hate speech to condemn gay people or anyone who might support equal rights for gay people.

I was thinking of this today when reading about the governor of Missouri who supports a bill that is friendly to gay people in his state. A state senator has called for his impeachment.

Read comments on any story about gay marriage or some of the recent rulings around state constitutional bans of gay marriage and you can see that hatred towards gays and lesbians is strong, and very much alive in our country.

Most folks show this type of hatred in the name of Jesus. They say they love Jesus so they have to treat their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in despicable ways. They have to call us names and treat us in a manner that quite frankly is hurtful.

Faggot. Homo. Pervert. Deviant.

In the name of Jesus. In the name of freedom and liberty.

Marriage equality is happening. It's right, it's just, and it's all about freedom and liberty.

One can have opinions against marriage equality, but one cannot force others to live within those opinions. What some call religious freedom I call bigotry because their religious freedom doesn't include me or my religious beliefs.

This is personal to me. I am in a state that I do not live in to get legally married to the love of my life because we cannot get legally married in our own state. Our marriage here in California won't even be recognized in Colorado. Yet.

It will one day. Soon I believe. With all of the fighting against marriage equality the reality is that it's going to happen. That the millions of dollars spent to stop marriage equality and the extremism expressed to discourage marriage equality will all result in equality throughout our amazing nation.

To all of those who support equality, thank you. And please keep voicing your opinion. Call out bigotry in any form. In a loving way of course.

We all have more in common than not.

Thank you for reading.

All eyes on the Supreme Court

The lobby of History Colorado was jam packed with hundreds of supporters of the civil unions bill that Governor John Hickenlooper was about to sign into law. I became emotional as several state legislators spoke about this historic day, one which many in the lobby had worked on for years. And yet, as the state senate co-sponsor said, this is not the end of our work.

Yes, we have more to do.

I want full marriage equality. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you have read our blog before this is of no surprise to you. Mike and I were married on April 30th of 2005. It was the best day of my life.

In our eyes we are married. On May 1st of this year(midnight of our 8th wedding anniversary) we will walk over to the City and County building in downtown Denver with a bunch of others to get legally recognized as a legal civil union.

The Supreme Court is hearing two cases around equality, including one on marriage equality, this week. As I read in a New York Times  commentary yesterday, victory around marriage equality is not a matter of if, it is  a matter of when.

Full marriage equality is so close, I feel like I can taste it.

The excitement and the emotion is building up. I could definitely feel it in the lobby of History Colorado. The joy expressed could have been heard all of the way to the state capitol, several blocks away.

Is America ready? You better believe America is ready. Do 100% believe in full marriage equality? Of course not. Yet nobody has a right to vote on my marriage and hopefully the Supreme Court will agree.

Simple equality.

Thank you for reading this and thank you for all of your support.