Doug Roberts was driving from his Detroit home to his weekend DJ gig at the Dunes Resort in this western Michigan town when he heard the news that the Supreme Court had legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country.
“I pulled over, appropriately to a rest stop, and posted a Facebook message to my partner, saying, ‘Good news, 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court. Hey, Steve, will you marry me?'” Roberts said.
His partner of 11 years not only liked that public Facebook posting, he said yes.
Along with Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, Michigan was one of the states with cases before the Supreme Court involving laws that defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman. Those states not only had banned same-sex marriages, they also refused to recognize such marriages from other states.
So the court’s ruling that same-sex marriages now will be allowed and recognized in all 50 states was celebrated by many who had seen their unions considered valid only away from home.
Lounging by the Dunes pool on a muggy Friday afternoon, Ashley Middleton, a banker from London, said he married his partner two weeks ago in Chicago because they wanted to tie the knot “on our own timetable instead of waiting for the states to catch up.”
He was surprised to see that same-sex marriage would become valid in his adoptive state so soon.
“I didn’t expect it to be as clean cut as it was,” Middleton said of the decision. “But it’s a human rights issue. You can’t have differentiation of states. If it’s in one state, it has to be in all states.”
Middleton, who met his partner in England, said it was only under the Obama administration that he could have considered living in the U.S. Their union being legally recognized meant “that we were able to make the lifestyle decision that included him coming to work here again and me coming with him.”
Now, he said, “we’re going to get married at our church. We are going to have a traditional-wedding marriage in Michigan.”
The announcement’s timing struck many as particularly dramatic and apt. The modern gay rights movement in the U.S. often is said to have sprung from the Stonewall riots in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village that began the morning of June 28, 1969. Pride celebrations and parades in cities such as Chicago take place this weekend to mark that anniversary.
“For the court to make that ruling (around) the anniversary of Stonewall is pretty amazing,” said Doug Strahm, 57, a singer-songwriter who was at the Dunes celebrating the first anniversary of his marriage to Bruce Smelser, his partner of 19 years. The ceremony took place in Indiana. “It’s a red-letter day for many reasons. This will be a very celebrated date in the gay community from here on out.”
While many in Michigan and elsewhere in the country celebrated, conservatives denounced the ruling as a crushing blow to the country’s values system.
“For myself and for those who believe in traditional morality, it’s really a sad day for America,” said Michigan state Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer. “I do think there has been a melting down of traditional values in America, and this is the next step in that direction.”
Earlier this month, Courser introduced bills that would prohibit local and judicial officials from officiating at weddings, though government still would issue licenses. The aim, he said, is not to curtail same-sex marriage but to ensure that government officials do not have to act against their religious beliefs by officiating at such unions.
“The bills are libertarian, essentially divesting marriage from the clutches of the government,” he said.
The Supreme Court ruling rankled Michigan’s Catholic leaders as well. “It sets the church’s teaching about marriage in opposition to the law and will create inestimable conflicts between the state and religious persons and institutions,” Michigan’s Catholic bishops said in a joint statement.
In the small town of Fennville, reaction to the ruling varied widely.
“My concern is that the Supreme Court is taking on too much of a legislative role, on the Obamacare and this,” said Jim Clarey, pharmacist at Alexander’s Drug Store.
Darlene Stumpf-Westfahl, partner/manager of the Root coffee shop, rejoiced in the ruling. “I think it’s great. Everybody deserves to be happy. It’s wrong to discriminate,” she said.
Liz Ortega, bakery manager at Crane’s Pie Pantry, agreed. “I was very happy,” she said. “I have lots of friends, and we’re all supporters. I just believe that love is love, and this time love wins.”
The ruling sparked celebration across Saugatuck, where its gay mayor, former Chicagoan Bill Hess, was heading to an impromptu party Friday afternoon at the Hercules Bar & Grill.
“I welcome anybody who wants to get married to get married here,” said Hess, noting that Saugatuck is among a handful of Michigan cities with a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Such a law does not exist statewide.
Doug Gould, a sports photographer relaxing by the Dunes pool, said he’d been married to a woman for 12 years and had learned how difficult divorce can be, so the ruling hasn’t changed his plans with his partner of 18 years. “We’re thrilled for everybody, but we don’t feel the need to get married,” he said.
Gould said he considers the Supreme Court decision “a gigantic step forward for the community and the world.” But he added: “I’m a little afraid of the negative backlash too. The country is very polarized. There are extremists out there — just look at what happened in Charleston, S.C. There are people who hate the gay people. I’m afraid this may push some people over the edge. (Same-sex marriage) might be legal, but that doesn’t mean everybody accepts it automatically.”
Then again, Erika Doty, a nurse who lives in Grand Rapids and is planning to marry her partner next spring, said six years ago that her mother had voted against same-sex marriage but, as has happened across much of U.S. society at large, her attitudes have evolved.
“She was actually the first to call me, and she sounded more excited than I was,” Doty said. “So if (the decision) can help my mom’s mind, it can help a lot of other people.”
Doty said she and her partner of one year, Liz Neidlinger, already had been planning their wedding regardless of the legal hurdles. “It’s a huge deal. It’s official now,” Doty said. “You can’t get any higher than the Supreme Court, so we’re ecstatic.”
Tammy Troyer, who owns a cleaning business in Douglas, said she and her partner got married at Niagara Falls in New York in November 2013 “because we couldn’t get married in Michigan.” So the Supreme Court ruling was a godsend.
“It changes everything,” Troyer said. “We could change our names legally. We could file our taxes (together). If one of us is hospitalized, the other one has legal rights to be there. It changes our whole life.”
Todd Christensen, a former longtime Kalamazoo police officer and Army veteran now bartending at the Dunes pool, said he was “screaming and crying” when he heard the news and thought of his gay relatives, including his sister who lives in San Francisco but got married in Massachusetts two years ago.
“They could not get married in Michigan, where she’s from,” said Christensen, tattoos of crossed Army rifles, an eagle and “Live free or die” on his shoulder. “They could not get married in San Francisco, where they live. So they had to go all the way to Boston to live their life.
“Nobody has to go through that anymore,” he continued. “Gays in America can finally be equal with anybody else, and they can truly fall in love with the person that they love, and they can solidify that through the sanctity of marriage.”
