Marriage Equality: Hannah Miller on Brian Feldman Marries Anybody*

Enjoy the unflattering angle and uncombed hair as I speak in front of the Orange County Courthouse in Downtown Orlando on my belief in marriage equality, moments after the annulment of my marriage-as-protest to Brian Feldman.

How to fight for marriage equality and equal rights in Florida:
http://eqfl.org/about/

More about the marriage:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/theater/os-brian-feldman-gay-rig...

Reproduction of the text I'm reading awkwardly aloud:

I am a child of divorce. And remarriage. And then another divorce, and more remarriages and more divorces.

Watching my mother blunder through so many pairings was beyond difficult. I promised myself I'd never be like her. If I ever married, it would be "for real"... to someone I loved, someone I would be proud to publicly declare half of myself and half of all that I would ever become in life.

Instead, I married Brian.

I don't love him. I barely know him. I've shared nothing with him, excepting our convictions, over the past 11 months.

Any two loving people who want to build a life together are entitled to whatever protection of that shared life the government is willing to give. The fact that our government only provides this security to male-female couples is an exercise in oppression. It is more than wrong, it is an insult to all proponents of love and commitment in our country.

Some people seem to think that my marriage to Brian was a lark. A joke-lightly entered into and now lightly left behind. That's the problem with watching a performance like this: the real drama isn't easily perceived; it's not lit up on a stage or scored with moody orchestration that tells you how to feel. It's secreted away in the hearts of the performers.

Marrying a stranger was a sacrifice. If I ever marry for love, it'll be tarnished. By marrying Brian and now, separating, I'm just like my mother. I've given up my personal conviction that marriage is a lifetime commitment. And though I believe I offered up that sacrifice to a greater cause, it doesn't alleviate any of the pain I feel right now.

This performance was nothing but a token for the suffering of same sex couples who, by virtue of the very relationship they wish to publicly protect, are denied the rights and securities granted so easily to opposite sex couples... like me and Brian.

Contact Equality Florida and donate funds or time to promote the end of this injustice in our home state. Write your State Representatives and Senators to let them know that it's past time to add protections for same sex couples to our constitution.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• gay
• rights
• florida
• orlando
• hannah
• miller
• brian
• feldman
• bfma
• noh8
• marriage
• equality

[anjela1981]

This to me is a non-issue. If you don't agree with marriage equality, don't marry someone of the same sex! As a school teacher, I don't ever recall reading/citing the words..."with liberty and justice for ALL" and seeing the word, "except". Separate but equal does not, has not and should not work. We can not "eenie meenie miney moe" through our neighborhoods and point to who is allowed marriage or not. As a christian and American, I am for equality, love, and acceptance for all human life.