Susan and Glorianne

There is a photograph of Glorianne and Susan wrapped up in a Pride flag that has been featured in newspapers all over the world, as an image encapsulating the marriage equality movement. However, “We actively opposed gay marriage for about a year up until it happened,” Glorianne explains.

At least, this was how they felt about marriage for themselves: “We had the contracts and the living wills, those legal documents to protect us even though we weren't legally married. We were each other's will's executors. But we saw other gay and lesbian couples who really needed [marriage equality],” especially LGBT couples with children. “Then it was for them, it wasn't for us.”

"We've been together for 20 years! ... If she's not my spouse, who is?"

However, as Glorianne entered her seventies while Susan was in her fifties, an unexpected problem began to arise: would Susan be able to receive Glorianne’s pension after Glorianne passed away? There was no way for her to do so unless the two were legally married. "We were really seeing the importance of protecting each other,” says Susan, “because I didn't have access to Glorianne's pension. So, we figured if we could get married in another state, I would have some more protections because my wages weren't as much and I would probably outlive her, so there were all these financial things that we wanted to make sure of.”

Glorianne describes them as somewhat playful throughout the process of legal marriage: “[We thought], ‘this is such a joke that we have to get married’! We have all the documents we can have but there are these things that they're holding off, like she couldn't get my pension because we weren't married. We've been together for 20 years, I mean, my God! If she's not my spouse, who is? So, we were playful about it."

In addition to being the subjects of an iconic marriage equality movement photograph, Glorianne and Susan have produced an equally iconic document for the movement as well, namely the marriage application marked, in large capital letters, “VOID.”

The rejection at the courthouse wasn’t nearly so cold as those large capital letters might suggest. As Susan explains, “the clerk, whom we both knew, said 'Oh guys, don't make me do this! I'm gonna have to say no, because the marriage application says ‘man and woman.’ … [But we told them] We want that document. We want to see that you won't let us get married. We want that piece of paper, because someday, it will be important that we tried, and we wanted to, but the government wouldn't let us do it. The clerks were crying because they just felt so bad. They supported us."