TEXAS: Couple Together 54 Years To Become First To Wed In Dallas County

(Tipped by JMG reader TJ)

72 Years In Love

The lesbian couple who married in Iowa last week after 72 years together have told their life story. It begins:

Vivian was a farm girl near Creston. Nonie a farm girl near Yale. Vivian was an indoor girl, spending hours "teaching my dolls," practice for her dream of becoming a teacher. Nonie was an outside girl, helping on the farm and playing basketball, such a rough-and-tumble guard that she once broke a rib during a game. Neither considered romance much back then. Vivian caught the interest of a boy once who became a friend but she cut that short by telling a schoolmate: "I wouldn't go with him to a dogfight." Then Nonie saw Vivian from afar one day, and it changed everything. Both were attending Iowa State Teachers College (now known as the University of Northern Iowa) in 1942.

"I could tell you exactly what she had on," Nonie said. "A gray dress with black velvet trim and big pearl buttons." That was it. They never spoke. But after Nonie dropped out of school and returned to Yale to work, she heard the school in town needed a new teacher. "I prayed that night that she would come to Yale," Nonie said. By chance, Vivian saw the job there and got it. She soon met Nonie, who asked her to a movie. Nonie had to work that night but told Vivian to go to the show, and she would join her later. "She was already bossing me around," teased Vivian, the soft-spoken one in the relationship. "But I had a new friend."

Hit the link for a video interview and the rest of their story.

Lesbian Couple Marries After 72 Years

After 72 years these ladies finally manage to marry each other, Wonderful!! #gay #Lesbian http://t.co/1PHX34Mj9K

— Mrs.W (@MrsWsOpinions) September 8, 2014

From Iowa's Quad City Times:

Vivian Boyack and Alice "Nonie" Dubes say it is never too late for people to write new chapters in their lives. Boyack, 91, and Dubes, 90, began a new chapter in their 72-year relationship Saturday when they exchanged wedding vows at First Christian Church, Davenport. Surrounded by family and a small group of close friends, the two held hands as the Rev. Linda Hunsaker told the couple that, “This is a celebration of something that should have happened a very long time ago.” The two met in Yale, Iowa, where they grew up, and moved to Davenport in 1947. Boyack was a longtime teacher in Davenport, directing the lives of children at Lincoln and Grant elementary schools. “I always wanted to be a teacher,” Boyack said Saturday after the ceremony. “My plan at an early age was to teach in the school where I was then going, and my teacher would move on to another school.”

(Tipped by JMG reader Jake)

SAGE Partners With NPR's Storycorps

Via press release:

SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) and the renowned oral history organization, StoryCorps, are proud to announce a new partnership that will help identify stories from LGBT older people around the country for StoryCorps’ “OutLoud” initiative, which is dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing LGBTQ stories from across America. StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Over the past decade, StoryCorps has collected more than 50,000 interviews, archiving these recordings at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and broadcasting selections on NPR. Over the next year, SAGE and its local affiliates around the country will work with StoryCorps to record stories at their locations in Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as through a traveling “MobileBooth” that will visit towns and cities in Alabama, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

SAGE just completed a daylong taping at their NYC location.

TEXAS: Gay Couple Marries In United Methodist Church After 53 Years Together

NBC News in Dallas reports:

It was a wedding 53 years in the making. Jack Evans and George Harris made their relationship official in the eyes of at least one church. "The marriage of George and Jack is a sign of God's love and their love for each other and our love for one another," said Rev. Bill McElvaney, the minister officiating the marriage. Evans and Harris are in their 80's. They asked several churches to perform the ceremony. Northaven United Methodist Church in North Dallas was the first to say yes. "We're celebrating 53 years and finally saying let's make this... let's call it what it is... what it has been for a half a century," said minister Arthur Stewart. Hundreds of people witnessed the ceremony.

The above-linked article closes with this: "For now, the marriage will only stand in this church."

Married After 60 Years

From Oregon Public Radio:

Eric Marcoux and Eugene Woodworth have been together since they the day they met in Chicago in 1953. “I am here today to be legally married to Eugene Woodworth, with whom I have had an intimate deeply committed relationship for a little over sixty years,” Marcoux says. Marcoux is 83 years old and Woodworth is 85. They can’t marry in Oregon, where a constitutional amendment outlaws same-sex marriage. When same-sex marriage was legalized in Washington last year, they didn’t rush across the state line to get married. “No, no, no….” says Woodworth. “We wanted to have it in Oregon,” Marcoux explains.

But Woodworth has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and he’s been given weeks to live. They’re getting married today with the hope that Marcoux might be eligible to receive social security benefits as the surviving spouse. “We’ve observed federal government extending privileges. Then it occurred to us, ‘well, maybe we’ll be able to transfer his social security,’ which is significantly greater than mine, to me. And although it’s a modest one, it will make an enormous difference in the kind of life that I will be able to leave – live! – and leave,” Marcoux says. “He deserves it after living with me for sixty years,” Woodworth laughs.

Hit the link for the rest of the story. Take a tissue. (Tipped by JMG reader Homer)

Hope For The Eldergays!

Details!

NORTH CAROLINA: Lesbian Seniors Apply For Marriage License, Are Rejected

A lesbian couple together for 40 years yesterday applied for a marriage license in North Carolina's Henderson County.

"Carole and I are here today to apply for a marriage license," said 79-year-old Mary Burson, "because we love each other, we've been together for 40 years...we've raised eight children together and we want to make the commitment that our brothers and sisters that are heterosexual can make." Burson and her partner, Carole Kaiser, 79, hoped Register of Deeds Nedra Moles would join a county clerk in Pennsylvania who has issued 174 marriage licenses to gay couples, even though that state — like North Carolina — prohibits same-sex unions. "Well, consider is about all I can do, because you both know that according to North Carolina law, I cannot issue the marriage license (to same-sex couples)," Moles said. "I've made you a copy of the N.C. General Statute, in case you would like to look at it, but I cannot do this today. So, I must turn you down."

Seventy members of the couple's church waited outside the courthouse to cheer their attempt, which was sponsored by the Campaign For Southern Equality. (Tipped by JMG reader Aaron)

Gay Veterans Marry At Senior Living Home

A gay couple together for 20 years has gotten married at their senior living home for veterans in a first for the facility.

John Banvard, 95, and 67-year-old Gerard Nadeau, who served in Vietnam, said they wanted to have their ceremony among friends, so they chose to have it at the Veteran’s Home, where they’ve lived for the last three years. They decided to get married after the Supreme Court’s actions earlier this year, which allowed same-sex couples to marry. “We were waiting on the Supreme Court to make that decision,” said Banvard. Many of the couple’s friends who live at the veteran’s home attended the small and simple ceremony. “The world is changing, we have to go along with it,” said one guest. Facility director Neal Asper said news of two men getting married at the VA home wasn’t well received by everyone. A town hall meeting was held at the VA home to address concerns from other residents.

There's video at the link.

HHS Extends Medicare Coverage To Married Gays In Nursing Homes

Via press release:

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a memo clarifying that all beneficiaries in private Medicare plans have access to equal coverage when it comes to care in a nursing home where their spouse lives. This is the first guidance issued by HHS in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling, which held section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

“HHS is working swiftly to implement the Supreme Court’s decision and maximize federal recognition of same-sex spouses in HHS programs,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Today’s announcement is the first of many steps that we will be taking over the coming months to clarify the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision and to ensure that gay and lesbian married couples are treated equally under the law.”

“Today, Medicare is ensuring that all beneficiaries will have equal access to coverage in a nursing home where their spouse lives, regardless of their sexual orientation,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. “Prior to this, a beneficiary in a same-sex marriage enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan did not have equal access to such coverage and, as a result, could have faced time away from his or her spouse or higher costs because of the way that marriage was defined for this purpose.”

(Tipped by JMG reader MarkOH)

TRAILER: Before You Know It

Plot synopsis:

The subjects of BEFORE YOU KNOW IT are no ordinary senior citizens. They are go-go booted bar-hoppers, love struck activists, troublemaking baton twirlers, late night Internet cruisers, seasoned renegades and bold adventurers. They are also among the estimated 2.4 million lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans over the age of 55 in the United States, many of whom face heightened levels of discrimination, neglect and exclusion. But BEFORE is not a film about cold statistics and gloomy realities, it’s a film about generational trailblazers who have surmounted prejudice and defied expectation to form communities of strength, renewal and camaraderie – whether these communities be affable senior living facilities, lively activist enclaves or wacky queer bars brimming with glittered trinkets and colorful drag queens.

The film opens in NYC this weekend. More showings here.

Married After 48 Years Together

This weekend our own Father Tony married Fort Lauderdale residents Mike and Ray, who met 48 years ago at a gay bar in New Jersey.  The ceremony, which took place at Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, was attended by eight friends of the grooms and was accompanied by a violinist. In lieu of the traditional stipend for officiating, the couple happily agreed to Tony's usual suggestion of a donation to the Ali Forney Center.  Tony adds: "You should have seen the faces of the three young gay couples who happened by us at the fountain. They remained with us through out the whole ceremony, and you could see in their faces amazing respect for these 'older' men who, as Ray said in his vows to Mike, are entering 'the final phase of our life together.'"

Today's Gay Advice Request To NYT

Here's the most recent letter sent to New York Times gay advice columnist Steven Petrow:

Dear Civil Behavior: Your comment in a recent column about gays at midlife finding themselves “suddenly invisible — aged out by the young, restless and beautiful” resonated loudly with me. At 59 I am single and almost friendless. I live in Philadelphia, which has a reasonably sized gay community, yet I feel like an outsider. Many of my friends died two decades ago and my contemporaries have started retiring to Florida. I would like to go out dancing sometimes, but I don’t feel comfortable going to bars anymore. The Internet seems full of people looking to do drugs. I remember the distaste we all once had for “old people,” but I’m tired of staying home on weekends. Do you have any advice?

Give us your answer then go see how Petrow responded.

At #LGBTmedia13

The fourth annual Haas Convening is underway in Philadelphia, where about 70 LGBT journalists have gathered for brainstorming and training on critical issues facing the community. Among today's presenters are noted lawyer Lavi Soloway, who advocates for bi-national couples who face DOMA-related deportations.

Other issues on today's agenda include LGBT rights abroad and asylum rights, aging and seniors in the gay community, transgender rights, and the LGBT community's place in the labor movement. In the photo above, Shuya Ohno skypes in from the National Immigration Forum. Follow the goings-on via the Twitter hashtag #LGBTmedia13.  The Haas Convening is sponsored by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.

PHILADELPHIA: City And LGBT Leaders Break Ground On Gay Senior Housing

Philadelphia's tourism agency sends us the above photo of today's groundbreaking for a new LGBT seniors housing center. Among those pictured: U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, Union boss John Dougherty, PGN Publisher Mark Segal, Mayor Michael Nutter, and City Councilman Mark Squilla. Photo credit: Patrick Hagerty.

Married After 64 Years

Here's the first paragraph from a great New York article, Reasons To (Heart) NY:

When the Columbia Library closed each night at ten, it was the custom of John Spofford Morgan, who was studying for a master’s in international affairs, to hop on the subway and head downtown to the New Verdi on West 72nd. Back then, there were two kinds of bars for gay men, he says: pickup joints and old-friends joints. The New Verdi was the latter, but it turned into the former when at around 10:30 on May 17, 1947, Louis Halsey walked in. “Love at first sight,” says Lou now. “Was it?” John wonders. “For me it was slower.” In any case, Lou and John spent the night together, just as they have spent most nights in the 64 years ensuing. Last month, they got married.

(Via - Boy Culture)

LOS ANGELES: Elderly Marriage Activist Dies Waiting For Prop 8 To Be Overturned

Ed Watson, above left, has died at the age of 78. Watson made national news this year when he expressed his hope that he would be allowed to marry before Alzheimer's Disease robbed him of the ability to recognize Derence, his partner of 40 years.

Gay rights activists lamented Watson's death as a reminder of the harm inflicted on same-sex couples throughout the state because they are denied the right to marry. "It's ironic that he died on the eve of appeals about peripheral issues around a case that should have been settled more than a year ago," said Richard Jacobs, chairman and founder of the gay rights advocacy group Courage Campaign, as he was en route to San Francisco for a hearing before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "None of this will matter to Ed or Derence."

Here's the clip the couple made in March.

December 2nd: NYC Toys Party

Even though the room capacity is over 2000, this event sells out instantaneously every year. Which is why I've never been.

NEW YORK: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Signs Landmark Bill Aiding LGBT Seniors

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill creating state services for LGBT senior citizens. The bill was sponsored by openly gay state Sen. Thomas Duane and openly bisexual state Assemblyman Micah Keller. The bill authorizes the replication of various state programs currently offered to traditionally underserved populations.

Via press release from Duane's office:

“Governor Cuomo has once again shown his commitment to ensuring that all New Yorkers have equal rights and protections under the law,” said Senator Duane. “This legislation is groundbreaking. For the first time, New York will recognize the unique needs of the ever growing segment of aging LGBT New Yorkers – and the services they may require in the years to come. Over the past decade, this State has gone from all but ignoring the LGBT community to enacting comprehensive LGBT hate crimes protections, providing a Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, protecting our students with strong anti-gay bullying protections in the Dignity For All Students Act, insuring our right to marry the ones we love with a Marriage Equality law, and now today taking major steps to assist elderly LGBT New Yorkers. I am proud at how far we have come in such a short amount of time.”

I believe this new bill is unique to New York state. Can anybody verify that?

ALASKA: State Judge Backs Tax Breaks For Gay Senior Citizen Couples

A state judge in Alaska has ruled that elderly gay couples are entitled to the same senior citizen property tax discounts granted to legally married elderly couples.

Superior Court Judge Frank Pfiffner said in his decision that the state's marital classification violates the Alaska Constitution's equal protection clause. The ruling was signed Friday and released Monday by ACLU of Alaska. ACLU of Alaska and the national American Civil Liberties Union challenged tax assessment rules on behalf of three couples from Anchorage who were denied tax breaks that they would have been entitled to if they were married. The couples were in committed relationships but were treated as roommates rather than families, according to the Alaska ACLU. The group's spokesman Jeffrey Mittman said Monday one couple, Julie Schmidt and Gayle Schuh, had been together 34 years.

Under Alaska law, married seniors are permitted to exclude $150,000 in home value from their property tax assessments. Disabled veterans get the same deal.