A little bit more than three years after we met in the chat room on this site, Djinni and I got married last weekend!!
We're calling it our SCOTUS shotgun wedding. We got engaged in April of 2021 and planned on marrying in August of this year. In late May our venue fell through and we scrambled. Ultimately we decided that we we'd get married next summer, since I'm in school and there's no way I can participate in a wedding in the midst of classes, research, writing, comprehensive exams, teaching, and living my life.
And then the Supreme Court invalidated Roe. And in his decision, Clarence Thomas made mention of revisiting several other decisions, including Loving v. Texas (protecting the right to non-cis/het relationships) and Obergfell (clarifying that marriage is open to same sex couples). And once again we scrambled. I spent the majority of my life not worried about marriage because according to the law I wasn't allowed to have one. Then in 2015 the Obergfell decision happened, followed by my meeting Djinni in 2019. Both of these changed my outlook on marriage.
So, on a bit of a whim we chose the only day available in September to get a marriage license and set to work planning a small, legal ceremony. We invited immediate family and a few local friends who are family to be witnesses. In the scope of a week we threw together a beautiful, simple wedding. My sister officiated, our 8 year old nephew (who we absolutely adore) was the ring bearer, best man, walked with us down the "aisle", and signed as our witness. We ate Olive Garden pasta and indulged in a lot of absolutely delicious cake. There was laugher, tears, jokes, promises, threats, and so much love.
We still want to have a "wedding"/party so that our out of town friends can come celebrate with us and we are still hoping for next summer. It's a shame that we had to rush it, and not fair at all, but when your rights are on the line you do what you can to protect them. (I'm throwing this is because fuck the rules, but please take our story into consideration when filling out your ballots in the next month. Who you vote for determines the supreme court, and they are coming for our rights. Consider the hurt and fear that we felt reading that decision, hearing the way that people in this country talk about queer people right now... groomers, pedophiles, etc. Consider how much more difficult folks who aren't cis, white, middle class, educated women have it).
I don't have the words to explain how deeply I love this woman and how thrilled I am to be her boi, partner, and now wife. She is my Beloved and I am hers. Forever.
