GOOD NEWS!

Wedding
To bring together in some manner of union.

Solemnize
To notice or honor a day, occasion or deed.

So we are coming together to Solemnize our Domestic Partnership.

*Marriage, according to Webster, we're not:  It says, "A state of being united 
- to the opposite sex."   Ops.'

ANNOUNCEMENT


We're getting married*...   'Da Mayor' of San Francisco, Willie Brown 

will solemnize our Domestic Partnership at a public ceremony on

March 25th.

We'll have our Spiritual ceremony later on  - come summertime.

This is a very good thing and a once in a lifetime commitment for 

both of us.

This will be a Lesbian/Gay and Leather Pride event for us all:  "In 
Gear and In Character"  .  We anticipate loads of media coverage.  
Make ready for 'News at 11'.  

We are stepping forward to say, "Marriage is the affirmation by 
mutual choice of any combination of people as life partners.  It is 
the commitment that is sacred and not gender, race, bloodline or 
lifestyle."  

Peace and Blessings,

Phil & rodtney 


Master & slave; Daddy & boi, Friends, and Lovers is how we express our 

commitment together.With the odds of a successful marriage lasting at 50/50;
any lifestyle that is working deserves examining.  Perhaps what is there to 

discover, is that regardless of oonfiguration, most successful unions 
contain some basics:  Respect; Honesty, and the ability to comprimise.

We'd like to share with you here, a little of the process of how this is 
happening now.  Luck, it is said, is wht happens when preparation and 
opportunity meet.  This then, is a lucky moment for us.  We knew we wanted 
to 'get married'.  We didn't know exactly how that was going to take place 
- and we still only have an 'idea' of how our actual 'Wedding' will take 
place.  It will most likely take place up here in the woods mid-summer 
this year.

I have a habit of picking up papers and bring them home to read - 
loads of them.  So one night recently, I was proped up on the bed 
watching listening to the TV and reading.  There it was in the 
Bay Area Reporter on page 18:  
         
         "Brown, Migden to officiate at 'Same-sex wedding II' March 25".

"Here come the brides - and the grooms, too, for that matter.  Mayor 
Willie Brown and Assemblywoman Carole Migden will once again officiate a 
same-sex wedding ceremony at City Hall on Wednesday, March 25 -- exactly 
two years after they presided over the first such ceremony in San Francisco..."

Instantly we 'knew' it was our time to stand up and be counted.  Even 
though we had been to the City the day before, we decided we'd better go 
in the next day and sign up.  And yes indeed, we were number forty-nine!  

The next thing of course, was to send out the announcements.  E-mails went 
out and the kudo's came back immediately from all around the world.  Then 
we made an announcement card and mailed it out to our friends and family 
who don't have computers yet.

Next our attention turned to wardrobe and presentation.  What to wear.  
How to act.  How to manage our collar ritual during the ring exchange.  
What to say to the press? What to give to the Press? Who to notify?
What if there are detractors?  Who will accompany us when only two 
are allowed?  What to do afterwards?  (Our parents will watch us on TV.)

All of this comes as we are planning our Spring itinerary:  LeatherFest 
San Diego, Palm Springs, L.A.  IML-20 Chicago, a visit to my 97 year old 
mother in Michigan - where to go from there?  Getting home in time to greet 
our guests arriving from Brooklyn, New York.  Like they say, "The more you 
do, the more you can do."  The weather was fantastic over the weekend - the 
first all winter really.  So I worked on the Van getting it ready for the 
next 10,000 miles of driving.  So far so good.  Everything's getting done.

rodtney's in bed with a cold.  he asked for Rum.  I wanted ice cream 
(we both gotta lose the winter fat).  So we're having Rum and ice cream 
tonight (March 17th).  The scorpio moon is shining bright with a ring 
around it.  Rain maybe?  And so it goes.  Details, details, details - 
I thrive on details actually.

Almost as soon as we realized we'd made this decision I made this statement, 
"boi, your Man can feel the chemistry changing."  And it's true.  People who 
can and do get married, and are accepted and recognized for it, probably do 
not sense this or take it for granted.  And who knows, maybe this is why so 
often it doesn't last.  It's simply not sacred enough to carry them ahead of 
whatever imperfection is at hand.  But for us; this is our moment in time.
I'd like to close off this chapter with a message that came in via e-mail 
this morning from a good friend, Kent:  

   "May God guide your path together as you start the path of eternity."

Another good friend, Gina Hall and her right hand dawg, Atomic Dawg, 
sent this GREAT congradulatory response!





MERCI BEAUCOUP GERVAIS!
  We will be talking with you soon.




Well, We did it!  Take a look at our Wedding Album

Perhaps this is what the chemistry change is all about. We'll keep adding 
to this as we move along through Spring of '98.  We hope yours is 
truly blessed as well!

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