Celebrate Marriage Equality Get Together, Angela and Pamela Brooks, 2013/06/13

[caption: @ The Mazer: A Celebration for Same-Sex Marriage Equality, Angela & Pam, 6.20.2013]

A. Brooks: Angela Brooks

P. Brooks: Pamela Brooks

A. Brooks: So we happened to be in San Francisco when Prop 8 came down the first time and the Supreme Court in CA ruled. We happened to be there on vacation and I told Pamela, “Well we should just go down there and see what’s happening.” So, we were in San Francisco when all that came down and we were just very excited about it.

P. Brooks: And we were already planning a wedding before we knew that was even a possibility, we had decided we would have our own wedding and we had planned that for August, but then all of a sudden it became possible that maybe we could do it legally. So, we talked about whether we should do that or not.

A. Brooks: And I said we didn’t have to do it because it was gonna pass in California, it wasn’t gonna get voted down, so what was the big deal? I wasn’t really–I really thought California would vote for it.

P. Brooks: But I had been a San Francisco political activist for many years and I just said “No, the voters are gonna mess this up. So, we have to do it, we have to do it.” We were able to get an appointment with a small town, in California, we came across the border, and we did it.

A. Brooks: Yeah, we got married on October 22, a Wednesday at 11 o’clock. We needed a witness to go with us and, unfortunately, none of our friends from Reno could go with us, so we kinda took a random stranger with us to get married.

P. Brooks: [laughs] It’s like, we had already had the big, the family festivities, the fancy clothes, the pretty party and but this was very solemn, like we, it was just on the steps, in a building in South Lake Tahoe with a random stranger. And knowing it was legal, was just, amazing.

A. Brooks: Yeah, I’m glad we’re California married and I would go to all fifty states and marry her again.

[nods]

A. Brooks: I don’t think it’s the end-all be-all, I mean I still think there’s a lot of things that we have to continue to fight for. This is just a step in the right direction. It’s a choice; if people want to get married, they can, if they don’t, they don’t have to. But I think for some people, it’s, the DOMA is needed, they need all those eleven hundred laws right now.

P. Brooks: And I agree, of course everyone should have them. I think, you know, hetero marriage is not questioned state by state and neither should ours be. I do, I would marry her in every state and I’m a willing person, if anybody wants to put that together, I’ll go marry her in every state. [laughs] But because of its importance, not just for a parade, or a circus. It’s very important that we’re all equal. And this I think, more than what it means, to people being able to be married, it’s the beginning of being not “the other.” It’s the beginning of us, of true equality, everyone has this right. This shouldn’t be questioned. And I think it will have an impact we have yet to see on other laws, and bullying, and all the other tortures that LGBT people have had to put up with, and all the inequities. And I think it will make a difference.

[kiss]

[applause]

Audience: Yeah!

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[END OF VIDEO]


Filmed at June L Mazer Lesbian Archives of West Hollywood, CA event, Celebrate Marriage Equality Get Together held June 20, 2013.

Same sex couples married under California law, speaks out after US Supreme Court rules against California Prop. 8 and federal law, Defense of Marriage Act.

Angela and Pam recounts their legal marriage ceremony just prior to the passing of Prop. 8. They comment on what it will mean to have federal recognition of their marriage and all the benefits, estimated at 1000 additional rights, afforded to heterosexual married couples.

Click here to open a PDF transcript.

Interviewee: Angela Brooks
Interviewee: Pamela Brooks
Interviewer: None
Transcriber: Gretchen B.
Transcriber: Dave P.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: June 20, 2013
Release Date: July 19, 2013
Location: June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives in West Hollywood, CA
Interview Length: 00:03:22