Jasmyn Morris (JM): Welcome back to an all-new season of the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. I’m your host, Jasmyn Morris.
At this point, 500-hundred thousand people have recorded a StoryCorps interview to be preserved at the Library of Congress. And our archive includes people from all 50 states – of all backgrounds and beliefs – but what unites them, what they all have in common, is this idea that anyone can share stories of what’s most important in their lives.
Sometimes, these personal histories intersect with much larger historical moments. And this season, we’re sharing stories in honor of one moment in particular: the Stonewall Uprising in New York City.
50 years ago, in June 1969, police raided a gay bar in New York called the Stonewall Inn — which was a common occurrence at the time. But on this particular night, when patrons — trans women of color, lesbians, drag queens and gay men — all fought back… the world took notice.
The events and the violence that unfolded over six nights at The Stonewall Inn have been described as a riot, an uprising and a rebellion. But regardless of the term, this came to be known as the catalyst for the modern gay rights movement.
So for the next 12 episodes of this podcast… stories about the many small victories that led up to this milestone… and some that followed.
In this week’s episode, we’re marking the 15th anniversary of Massachusetts becoming the first state to legalize marriage for same-sex couples in the US.
David Wilson (DW): The tears are rolling down my face when I’m saying how much I love you and that we’re going to now dedicate our lives to each other. And I do remember our minister saying, “By the power vested in me…”
ARCHIVAL: “By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts….” [CHEERING]
Robert Compton (RC): And then we had to pause while the church erupted…
JM: That’s Rob Compton and his husband, David Wilson, remembering their wedding – fifteen years ago this week.
While getting married was one of the happiest days of their lives, reaching that milestone wasn’t easy. Especially for David…
Here he is at StoryCorps back in 2010, talking about his long-term partner before Rob…
DW: So I met a man and, uh, we started dating. His name was Ron. And over that period of 13 years it was sort of perfect for me.
But I came home from work one day. Ron had been raking leaves. And as I pulled into the driveway, he was laying across a pile of leaves. So I jumped out of my car, went up to Ron, and he wasn’t moving. EMT’s arrived within minutes, and, uh, they called the police because they saw me standing in the driveway, you know, an African American man in a white neighborhood and Ron was white. So when the police arrived, they wanted to arrest me for assault and battery and breaking and entering. While Ron’s laying on the ground.
My neighbors are all in the driveway battling for me; you know, “This is a couple, they’ve been in this home almost 10 years.” And my next door neighbor actually was on the police force. You know, he called the station and we settled it.
And when I got to the hospital, I found out that they were not going to give me any information because I had no relationship to Ron; as far as they were concerned, I was a stranger. They called Ron’s family in Vermont and said, “Can you give permission for us to talk to David?” And his 75-year-old mom said, ”Of course, they’re partners.”
So they came out and they said that, “He was, uh, dead on arrival.” My whole world just kind of fell apart. I mean, I just really didn’t know what to do and I… I really was pretty broken.
JM: As David began to rebuild his life, he joined a few organizations and support groups…
DW: One meeting, in walked a man who was a dentist. He stood up and told his story… he came out at work and the next day attorneys from the head office flew in and removed him from the building and he was fired. That man’s name was Rob Compton and we decided maybe we should go out on a date. We did and we both continued to talk about the experiences we’d had. And for Rob it was really about employment rights, to never be fired again. For me it was about relationship rights.
After about a year Rob moved in. He had been there about three months and he woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating stomach pains. So I threw him in the car and we ended up at the same hospital that I had been at with Ron. And I’m sitting in the lobby trying to argue, again, my way into the treatment room. Turns out it was a kidney stone, so it wasn’t serious. And so they treated him and they brought him out to the lobby and he just looked at me and he said, “I know exactly what you’ve been trying to tell me for the past year.” So together we decided to work on rights for gay and lesbian people.
JM: At this point, David and Rob worked with the GLBTQ Advocates and Defenders, also known as GLAD, to be one of seven couples taking on marriage equality.
DW: All of a sudden I’m now a plaintiff in a major lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts.
My mother had passed away at that point, but my dad was still alive and he was 85 years old. So part of the decision to become a part of the case was to talk with my family. I had an ex-wife who remained my best friend, I had three adult children and I had a partner and they were fully supportive. My dad wasn’t sure. All of a sudden his only son is going to, you know, become this prominent out gay black man. So I talked with dad about some of the issues; obviously, he knew what had happened with Ron. A couple hours later, Dad said, ”You’re doing the right thing and you’ve got my support.
And as we moved through the case and get the decision, I drove to my dad’s and I said, ”Dad, we won.” He was so excited and he said, ”Now when are we gonna have a wedding?”
May 17, 2004 was the first weddings. Dad said ”Well, you’re going to City Hall and you’re going to be part of all this excitement; what about me?” I said ”Dad, I’m sending a limo to pick you up.” My Dad had never been in a limo. He got a new suit, came down and the limo took him down and he was in the front row when we walked down the aisle. Both his arms were in the air. He was 89 at that point.
And he didn’t see it just for gay people, he saw it for, you know, all people that had been discriminated against and his whole life he had been discriminated against. So I think, for Dad, it was just a victory that he could be a part of. He could not have been more proud. It was a great day.
JM: That’s David Wilson at StoryCorps in New York City. Next, we catch up with David and Rob 15 years after their wedding day.
Stay with us.
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[PROMO]
JM: Welcome back…
With 15 years of marriage behind them, David and Rob came to StoryCorps to reflect on their very public wedding day…
RC: I just remember walking from City Hall — the entire plaza was just covered with news media. And we had to actually have police all around us to break through the crowd. And we didn’t know until later that all those police officers had flak jackets on and they had snipers up on the roof trying to make sure nothing happened. And we had one death threat but, that day, Arlington Street Church was filled to the brim.
DW: Yeah, we included our family. So we had our two grandsons who were 4 and 2 that walked down the aisle ahead of us. And then we had the Gay Men’s Chorus who lined the pulpit. And the tears were rolling down my face when I’m saying how much I love you and that we’re going to now dedicate our lives to each other. And I do remember our minister saying, “By the power vested in me…”
ARCHIVAL: “By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts….” [CHEERING]
RC: And then we had to pause while the church erupted.
DW: People clapping and…
RC: Yep…
DW: …banging their feet.
RC: You couldn’t hear anybody until everybody kinda calmed down. And then she said…
ARCHIVAL: “I hereby pronounce you partners for life, legally married.” [CHEERING]
RC: And that’s when we realized, that day wasn’t about us. This really was for thousands and thousands of people.
DW: I think, for me, as we approach the 15th anniversary, I have no concerns now about introducing you as my husband, which right after we got married, we started carrying our marriage license everywhere we went thinking we were going to need it. Here we are 15 years later and I don’t even know where it is.
JM: That’s David Wilson with his husband, Rob Compton, remembering their wedding day in Boston, Massachusetts.
David and Rob are one of the very first gay couples to be legally married in the US. But just recently, they’ve discovered some competition for that title…
There’s actually another gay couple… who got married almost five decades ago…
Michael McConnell (MC): I’m Michael McConnell.
Jack Baker (JB): And my name is Jack Baker. Our marriage was the first such union to be recorded in public files of any civil government and it became the first legal gay marriage.
JM: Michael and Jack first met back in 1966… and they came to StoryCorps to remember how their relationship began…
MM: I was at a Halloween barn party in Norman, Oklahoma and my close and very dear friend said, “There’s someone here I want you to meet. You two were destined for each other.” I kind of rolled my eyes and he said, “No, really…”
JB: At the time I was looking for the four T’s: tall, thin and twenty-three. I was 24 and thought perhaps time had passed me by but there was the four T’s standing right there in front of me. And so I was quite excited. And so we talked and chatted and he was one of the few people that had a brain in his head. So I wanted to see more of him after that.
MM: When Jack asked me to be his lover, I said, “Well, if you’re willing to find a way for us to get married, I will commit to you.”
JB: And so, that’s when I said, “Well, I’m going to have to find a way to go to law school.” And that’s where it all started.
MM: One of the things that Jack discovered in law school is that there are many ways to accomplish what you really want to do in the legal system. We thought, Let’s change Jack’s name. Let’s make it gender neutral. So we changed Jack’s name to Pat Lyn McConnell. And after the usual waiting period, the license was issued.
We went to a friend who was registered with the state to perform marriages and asked him to perform our marriage, which he did. That was September 3, 1971. And then once the license was, uh, executed, we all signed it and it was sent to be recorded.
JM: Ultimately, the clerk caught on…and their marriage license wasn’t recognized by the state. Michael and Jack had also filed a lawsuit from a previous attempt to get married but it was dismissed.
JB: We got quite a bit of criticism and very few people were actually supporting us, but I figured, well, history would speak for itself. And in the end, we prevailed.
JM: Of course, marriage isn’t for everyone, but for those who do want to tie the knot legally, they now have the option. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples now have the right to marry anywhere in the US, and these unions – including Michael and Jack’s – must be recognized.
Also, we should note… Jack and Michael weren’t the only ones creatively fighting for marriage equality in 1971…
That same year, members of the Gay Activists Alliance in New York City staged a protest–or what they then called a “zap”–in response to homophobic comments made by the city clerk. Members of the group took over the marriage license bureau on a work day… and held an engagement party for two gay couples. They went into the clerk’s office and began answering his phone…
Member of GAA: Oh this is definitely the marriage bureau but it’s been taken over by the Gay Activists Alliance. Your mother and dad want to get married? Are they gay? Oh I’m sorry; we can’t help you. No… No I can’t. I’m sorry… Yes, we took over the office and we’re having a great party. Why don’t you come down? We have a wedding cake here; it’s really great. Okay, bye bye.
JM: That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast… but, before we go, we need your help preserving the stories of LGBTQ elders so they’re not lost to history. We’re asking you, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots to pick up your mobile device and record these stories in your community… using the StoryCorps app. And we might share some of these on future episodes. You can head over to storycorps.org – slash- outloud to learn more.
This episode was produced by Jud Esty-Kendall and me. Our engineer is Jarett Floyd. Our fact-checker is Natsumi Ajisaka. Special thanks to StoryCorps facilitators Naomi Greene and Jhaleh Akhavan (ah-ka-vahn).
To see what music we used in the episode, go to StoryCorps – dot – org, where you can also check out original artwork created for this season by artist Michael Caines.
Join us next week, when we hear from veterans who fought to serve openly in the US military…
For the StoryCorps podcast… I’m Jasmyn Morris. Thanks for listening.
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