Just out., August 01, 2003, Page 13, Image 13

august 1. 2003 »
umrnminews
N orthern E xposure
Oregonians get married in British Columbia by Jim Radosta
ortlanders Joyce Arend and Laura
Lonac were married July 18 in Van­
couver, British Columbia. They are
likely the first Oregon couple to tie
the knot since the province’s Court of
Appeal legalized full same-sex marriage July 8.
Arend and Lonac began planning the trip sev­
eral months ago in anticipation of the Vancouver
Music Festival but decided to take advantage of the
historic opportunity. The couple have been togeth­
er for 10 years.
“1 have always wanted to have a public
acknowledgment of our relationship...but we
P
emment,” Lonac says. “So we’ve never had any
other kind of ceremony.”
Lonac says the couple received nothing but
positive feedback from the moment they set foot
on Canadian soil. When a customs official asked
why they were visiting, they told him they were
crossing the border to get married.
“He burst into a big smile and gave us a
thumbs-up and said, ‘Well, congratulations,’
Lonac says. “T hat’s the nicest encounter I’ve
ever had with a customs guard in my life.”
The supportive atmosphere continued
throughout the trip when the couple dealt with
hotel clefks, rental car agents, marriage bureau per­
sonnel and waiters. They even snagged some free
champagne as congratulations on their nuptials.
At the folk music festival, Arend returned
the favor by writing on the back of her shirt:
“JU S T MARRIED. T H A N K YOU, B.C.” The
couple say dozens of people approached them
with handshakes and smiles.
“I think it really has taken a while for it to
sink in,” Lonac says. “Every once in a while we’ll
kx>k at each other and just burst out with, ‘We
are married!’ It’s really a pretty amazing feeling.”
Arend, 48, is C EO and administrator of Ore­
gon Eye Specialists, an ophthalmology group.
Lonac, 47, was a schoolteacher for 21 years; she
now works as a clerk at Midland Library.
“It seems like there are a lot of heterosexuals
who just take it for granted, and for us it’s some­
thing really special because we have had to wait a
long time, and it hasn’t been an easy road," Arend
says. "I can’t wait to introduce her [as my wife]. I
can’t wait to file a joint income tax return.”
Lonac says they had no idea they were the
first couple from Oregon to legally marry in
Canada. “It never crossed our minds. We didn’t
want to be first; we wanted to be married.”
Another Portland couple, Just Out columnist
Marc Acito and contributing writer Floyd
Sklaver, made history July 23 with the first
same-sex wedding to take place on the grounds
of the British Columbia Legislature in Victoria.
The 15-minute ceremony was filmed by four
Canadian television networks for inclusion on
the evening’s news.
“It was quite a show,” Sklaver said. “I always
cry at weddings, and I always wondered if I’d cry
at my own.” (For the record, he did.)
The couple’s wedding plans were so hasty
that they ended up recruiting a waitress they
met the evening before to serve as one of their
witnesses. And same-sex marriage is so new to
the province that the marriage license lists the
couple as “bride and grixun.” (For the record,
Acito is the lucky lady.)
President Bush cast a dark cloud over the
couples’ joy July 30 when he declared another
cultural war on homosexuals (see sidebar). Still,
Arend hopes people in the United States will
kx>k back on this time and realize that the sky
doesn’t fall when same-sex couples get married.
“It can never be a bad thing when two peo­
ple that love each other commit to each other,"
she says. “How is that bad?” J H
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“O n the other hand, that does not mean
uring a rare news conference July 30, Pres­
that somebody like me needs to compromise on
ident Bush was asked a question about the
morality of homosexuality. Here is his response j an issue such as marriage. And that’s really
where the Issue is heading here in Washington,
in its entirety:
and that is the definition of marriage. I believe
“Yes, I am mindlul that we’re all sinners, and
in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage
I caution those who may try to take the speck out
is between a man and a woman. And I think
of tjjeir neighbor’s eye when they got a log in
their own. I think it’s very important for our soci­ we ought to codify that one way or the other.
And we’ve got lawyers looking at the best way
ety to respect each individual, to welcome those
to do that.” JT)
with good hearts, to be a welcoming country.
C a ll ab o u t o ur
SUMMER SPECIAL!
CAO
OOCA
° r Mmoi Cleveland
Medical Director