“Joey Hateley and Hugo Vera will exchange vows in Quito during a civil ceremony officiated by Councilor Norman Wray, the president of the Metropolitan Commission on Gender (Comision Metropolitana de Genero), according to the website proyecto-transgenero.org.

Hateley, the artistic director of TransAction Theatre Company, transitioned from a woman to man, but is legally considered female. The British-born thirty-five-year-old Hateley and Vera, a twenty-three year-old Ecuadorian, are considered a gay couple and can only marry due to that technicality.”

(Source: myholigay, via )

From Below the Belt:

“…What we need is not more marriages, but a better safety net for individuals: universal healthcare. Guarantees to an adequate basic income. The ability to name non-family members as next-of-kin. Comprehensive immigration reform — with sponsorship made easier — and alongside immigration reform, more work done to ease the disparities that make immigration so tempting. Civil partnerships for tax purposes that allow two or more people.

These ideas come out of my thoughts on queering the definition of family. One of the things that I love about queer people is the sense of chosen families. Although I am blessed to have a loving, accepting family, many of my fellow queer folk are not as lucky, and those experiences have shaped our community. But beyond that, I think, is the queerness of the element of choice. Queer identities (as opposed, perhaps, to homo- or bi-sexual orientations) are characterized by intentionality — an awareness that we have no reason to abide by the principles many straight, cis people take for granted: that sex, gender, and orientation necessarily follow from each other; that procreative, monogamous, state- and church-sanctioned relationships are the ideal; that blood is thicker than water. Or that any of these are simple dualities.

So, while I will continue to celebrate wins for marriage equality with my friends who hold that as a gal, I will dedicate my own resources to fighting for the basic rights to keep our families (blood-tied and otherwise) healthy, cherished, and protected.”