Preaching to the choir

Del Martin has died. I wrote about her here. Thanks to California's recognition of same-sex marriages, Martin's partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, was able to be at her side in the hospital. No one could keep Martin's wife from sitting with her to the end. And even if California voters do the unthinkable and pass that damn anti-same-sex marriage amendment, and even if California courts follow that by declaring all of the marriages that have been certified until that point are thereafter null and void, no on can ever take it away from Del Martin that she was allowed to pass away in peace, with her wife holding her hand. And no one will be able to take away that memory from Phyllis Lyon, even if they subsequently refuse to treat her as a grieving widow.

But if California does go down that road and decide to deny her status as a widow, well it would just be a big lie. Because long before this June, those two women were as married as any heterosexual couple anywhere in this country. And we ought to respect that.