Soldiers For Love

Today I witnessed something amazing. The ten individuals that make up the 2010 Arizona Marriage Equality Walkers completed their journey of walking 98 miles across the state bringing awareness to the need to legalize LGBT relationships through marriage. Many people gathered at the Phoenix City Hall to honor the walkers and to complete the final mile of the journey with them. The last stretch of this phenomenal feat took those in attendance from city hall to the state capital.

Seeing the people in the streets, feeling the amazing sense of unity in the air and hearing the stories from the equality walkers made the day very surreal. Knowing that this walk comes on the heals of the repeal of Prop 8 gives me hope. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., maybe one day we will see the arc of history swing towards justice.

My partner and I have been together for fourteen years and the state of Arizona (along with most of the states in our country) refuses to recognize our union. I don't know many straight couples that have endured the length of time we have yet we cannot swap rings or exchange vows legally. It is humiliating and disgracing but it is a fact. So as I bear witness to the phenomenal courage of these individuals I am simultaneously humbled and encouraged. They give me strength. As long as there are individuals like this around then the spirit of MLK lives on. As long as the equality walkers press forward with their mission the spirit of Bayard Rustin lives on. As long as there are people that take to the streets and refuse to be silent then the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi lives on.

I am grateful to have been in the midst of these individuals and I want them to know that they are role models for the LGBT community. If we are to one day see the light LGBT marriage equality, it will be because of people like this and the people that support them. Onward LGBT soldiers. Your work is not in vain.