Long live equality! First anniversary of same-sex marriage in Oklahoma

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Today, October 6, is the first anniversary of legal same-sex marriage in Oklahoma. On October 6, 2014, the US Supreme Court refused to hear any of the five appeals from states that had had their same-sex marriage bans overturned, making marriage equality the law of the land in Oklahoma, Utah, Indiana, Wisconsin and Virginia.

Sharon Bishop-Baldwin and her wife Mary Bishop-Baldwin, the plaintiffs in the case that led to the Supreme Court’s action, are celebrating their first anniversary today. Sharon wrote to Mary on Mary’s Facebook page: “To Mary – A year! Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes! I don’t believe it. It can’t have been that long since we stood on those steps and made a legal commitment to each other. There’s a part of me that will always see March 26 as our “real” anniversary, because for more than 14 years, that was the best we could do (not that it wasn’t good enough). But Oct. 6 will have its place, too; it will be the anniversary we share with thousands. Baby, I couldn’t have fought this fight, traveled this road, with anyone but you. Thanks for sticking with me and for always remembering that the journey IS the destination. I love you forever.”

Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Troy Stevenson said, “It’s been an amazing year. We had marriage a year ago today, but were still waiting for the Supreme Court decision which came in June,” making same-sex marriage the law in every state. He continued, “That conversation is pretty much over. People are married, the sky hasn’t fallen, and we accept people who are married. It is exactly what we thought it would be.”

Stevenson continued, “A year after marriage began, people are happily married, they’re protected and we’ve moved on to other fights.” He noted that LGBT people are still not protected in employment or public accommodation, and that getting married to your same-sex spouse could get you fired from your job. Freedom Oklahoma is working toward local anti-discrimination ordinances, and eventually a state-wide anti-discrimination law protecting the LGBT community.

Toby Jenkins, Executive Director of Tulsa's Oklahomans for Equality also applauded today's anniversary and noted the need to continue the fight for equality. Jenkins said "One year of marriage equality has made us hungry for full equality. We got a taste of victory and now we are ready for the championship. To our opponents 'Give us our liberty and freedom.' To our LGBT siblings and supporters 'GO TEAM.'"

On the evening of October 6, 2014, Rev. Lori Walke, Associate Minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, married 13 same-sex couples. As she married the first couple, she proclaimed, “By the power vested in me by the State of Oklahoma….” A rousing, prolonged cheer arose from the several hundred friends and family gathered in the church at those words. She continued, “and the United Church of Christ, I now pronounce you a couple. You are stuck with each other!” The couple kissed, and walked up the aisle, cheered on by a standing ovation.

That was the start of Rev. Walke’s helping couples celebrate their relationships, but it certainly wasn’t the end. She told The Gayly, “In a year I’ve married close to 100 same-sex couples.” But she hastened to add, “I don’t do same-sex weddings, they are just weddings. Sometimes the couple are of the same sex and sometimes they are not.”

She applauded the progress in Oklahoma, and nationwide, saying, “As a society, folks are getting around to the idea that marriage is marriage, and that is a good system. We are so happy to be celebrating the first anniversary of marriage equality. Long live equality! I’m happy to be an ally of the LGBT community.”

Paula Sophia and her wife Pam Schonauer were one of the couples married a year ago by Rev. Walke. Sophia says, “I feel as married as ever. It’s nice to feel secure in that. It’s a wonderful thing to know that if something happens to me, Pam is taken care of. That she can benefit from the rights and privileges of being my spouse, and I can similarly benefit from being her spouse, in a way that we could not enjoy before.”

Couples around the state are celebrating their first anniversary today. It has only been a little over 11 years since the first state, Massachusetts, began gay marriage. In 2013, when the Windsor decision was handed down, only eight states and the District of Columbia had marriage equality. Two years to the day later, on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court declared that marriage is a right, and marriage equality was the law in the entire United States.

As Rev. Walke said, “Long live equality.”

The Gayly – October 6, 2015 @ 3:20pm.