Gingersnap
02-04-2009, 10:09 AM
Lesbian Couple That Launched Gay Marriage in MA Calls It Quits
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Tuesday Feb 3, 2009
http://i43.tinypic.com/14465gp.jpg
Hillary and Julie Goodridge (Source:Charles Krupa / AP)
When Massachusetts couple Hillary and Julie Goodridge wed, nearly five years ago, they were hailed as "pioneers" who had ushered in a new day for America’s gay and lesbian families--a day of matrimonial equity, when gays and lesbians could, for the first time, wed their life’s partners.
What the court case that bore their name--the case that is still called "Goodridge" for short"--meant was that the right to a family was, in Massachusetts at least, a matter of constitutional guarantee. Gays and lesbians were, for the first time, as good as everyone else: good enough to marry legally... and good enough to divorce.
After all, the point of marriage equality was never to lay claim to gay and lesbian relationships being better than heterosexual unions. All gay and lesbian families wanted was equality: the right to decide who to offer promises to, and the right to then try to keep those vows intact for life.
Inevitably, some of the marriages that followed were going to end in divorce: the flipside of equality.
But the Goodridges led the way. They were seen as a symbol, and symbols are of interest to the wider community.
Thus, when Hillary and Julie Goodridge filed for divorce on Jan. 29, there was bound to be interest from those in the GLBT community, as well as from those who fought to prevent marriage equality and, after it became a matter of law in Massachusetts five years ago, sought to repeal it.
A Feb. 3 article in the Boston Herald called the Goodridges "gay icons," and noted that the details of their divorce have been kept private.
The article quoted Ann Kiernan Smith, the 82-year-old mother of Hillary Goodridge, who observed, "I guess because Julie and Hillary made headlines, people will pick on it."
Indeed, marriage equality foe Kris Mineau, who heads up the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute, was quick to issue commentary about the news.
Said Mineau about the divorce--one of 168 that were filed for in one month in Suffolk County, the Herald said, with most of those divorcing couples being of opposite genders--"Obviously, they don’t hold the institution in very high esteem."
Mineau said that he couldn’t "help but reflect on the pain this couple has caused on the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] and the nation to redefine marriage.
"And now they’re getting divorced?" Mineau continued.
"It doesn’t make a lot of sense."
Edge Boston (http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=86775)
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Tuesday Feb 3, 2009
http://i43.tinypic.com/14465gp.jpg
Hillary and Julie Goodridge (Source:Charles Krupa / AP)
When Massachusetts couple Hillary and Julie Goodridge wed, nearly five years ago, they were hailed as "pioneers" who had ushered in a new day for America’s gay and lesbian families--a day of matrimonial equity, when gays and lesbians could, for the first time, wed their life’s partners.
What the court case that bore their name--the case that is still called "Goodridge" for short"--meant was that the right to a family was, in Massachusetts at least, a matter of constitutional guarantee. Gays and lesbians were, for the first time, as good as everyone else: good enough to marry legally... and good enough to divorce.
After all, the point of marriage equality was never to lay claim to gay and lesbian relationships being better than heterosexual unions. All gay and lesbian families wanted was equality: the right to decide who to offer promises to, and the right to then try to keep those vows intact for life.
Inevitably, some of the marriages that followed were going to end in divorce: the flipside of equality.
But the Goodridges led the way. They were seen as a symbol, and symbols are of interest to the wider community.
Thus, when Hillary and Julie Goodridge filed for divorce on Jan. 29, there was bound to be interest from those in the GLBT community, as well as from those who fought to prevent marriage equality and, after it became a matter of law in Massachusetts five years ago, sought to repeal it.
A Feb. 3 article in the Boston Herald called the Goodridges "gay icons," and noted that the details of their divorce have been kept private.
The article quoted Ann Kiernan Smith, the 82-year-old mother of Hillary Goodridge, who observed, "I guess because Julie and Hillary made headlines, people will pick on it."
Indeed, marriage equality foe Kris Mineau, who heads up the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute, was quick to issue commentary about the news.
Said Mineau about the divorce--one of 168 that were filed for in one month in Suffolk County, the Herald said, with most of those divorcing couples being of opposite genders--"Obviously, they don’t hold the institution in very high esteem."
Mineau said that he couldn’t "help but reflect on the pain this couple has caused on the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] and the nation to redefine marriage.
"And now they’re getting divorced?" Mineau continued.
"It doesn’t make a lot of sense."
Edge Boston (http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=86775)