The Toll On Gay Couples

The federal trial in San Francisco to determine if it’s constitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry is shedding light on what gay couples experience.

“I’ve been in love with a woman for 10 years, and I don’t have access to a word for it,” said 45-year-old Kristin Perry of Berkeley, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the voter initiative that outlawed gay marriage in California. “In a store, people want to know if we are sisters or cousins or friends, and I have to decide every day if I want to come out wherever we go, if we are going to risk that negative reaction.”

Testimony by Perry and her partner, Sandra Stier, and a gay couple from Los Angeles,  Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, will help determine whether Proposition 8 should deny the right for gays to marry.  Katami says, “I pay my taxes, I own a house But in that moment, being gay means I am less than, I have been relegated to a corner, and I’m tired of living my life that way because I think of myself as a good person.”

Ultimately, the Supreme Court will likely decide this case on appeal, which could determine whether marriage will be restricted to a man and a woman or whether those restrictions will be abolished.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.