When James Phelps was a law student back in the 1970s, he figured that the United States eventually would recognize same-sex marriages.
“But not in my lifetime,” Phelps said.
The pace of that transition added a new facet Saturday to Clark County’s annual gay pride event at Esther Short Park. For something that has entered its third decade, this year’s “Saturday in the Park Pride” celebration reflected some pretty recent news.
The festival for Clark County’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer residents is held on the second Saturday in July. This year, the second Saturday came barely two weeks after the Supreme Court ruling ended same-sex marriage bans in 14 states.
And on Thursday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the federal government is making marriage benefits available to same-sex couples in every state.
Washington voters approved same-sex marriages in November 2012, so many of the people at Saturday’s event have been married for at least a couple of years. And it’s been a lot longer than that for Phelps and Tim Baldwin.
“We were married 10 years ago in Vancouver, B.C.,” Phelps said.
Just to illustrate how long they’ve been together, that 2005 wedding marked “our 15th anniversary as a couple,” Phelps said.
Phelps said he feels a great sense of joy that their relationship is recognized officially, but isn’t sure that much has changed from a practical standpoint.
His husband thought differently.
“He travels a lot,” Baldwin said. “If something happens to him …”
The unspoken part of Baldwin’s comment reflects the obstructions same-sex partners can run into if their loved one is in the hospital.
Good point, Phelps acknowledged.
Following the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling, “If I’m at a conference in Texas and something happens, could he get into my hospital room? Probably yes.”
That’s not just a talking point. Micheil MacCutcheon has lived it.
MacCutcheon is president of the Saturday in the Park Pride organization that puts on the celebration. He and partner Richard Swiger, who died in 1994, moved from New Hampshire to Vancouver in the 1990s. When Swiger got sick and was hospitalized, MacCutcheon couldn’t see him.
“I had a legal and a medical proxy,” MacCutcheon said. “You spend thousands of dollars on paperwork, and the hospital doesn’t accept it. I needed something that I could take from one state to another.”
Ty Stober said that he and Lamar Bryant were married two years ago, when it became legal in Washington.
However, “He and his family are from Mississippi, and our marriage has not been valid there. If something happened to him, it would be difficult,” Stober, a Vancouver City Council candidate, said. “Now a burden has been lifted.”
“Having the Supreme Court pass this very impactful ruling shows there has been a sea change,” said Katie Carter, a Pride Foundation staff member who works in the Portland-Southwest Washington region. “As exciting as all that is, there is more work to do.”
Right after the June 26 decision, Carter said she enjoyed a celebratory “YES!” And that afternoon, “I was at a meeting.”
“In 28 states, people can still lose their jobs” because of their sexual orientations, MacCutcheon said.
But not all of the transitions are taking place nationally. Some are happening on a much more personal level.
“We’ve had two years of no protesters,” MacCutcheon said. “No one saying we’re evil people.
“We’re just people.”
Stober, who has been with Bryant for 12 years, is now comfortable enough to visit his husband’s family in Mississippi.
“I started last year. His father remarried. I was surprised when I was invited to the wedding.”
