En-gay-ged

Some people reading this may already be aware, but my partner and I are now officially engaged! We made our first public announcement on July 5th, the 6 year anniversary of our official meeting. (We had a chance encounter once before, but that's a story for another day.)

We've actually been engaged since I was in the hospital in 2015, but we've kept it under our hat and only told select people. Initially, it was about our commitment to each other and a way to encourage me to recover so we could live a long life together. Our engagement was also partly for protection. There have been many horror stories of gay couples dealing with hospitalization and estranged family members using blood relationship to legally divide the couple, and my parents have been trying to divide us since day one. We've just decided to finally take that commitment to the next step, so announcing the nature of the commitment has to be done before actually tying the knot.

Gay marriage was legally recognized in Oregon almost a year before our hospital engagement, but still wasn't federally recognized. I haven't been able to find it in years, but there used to be a YouTube video of me speaking for a grassroots marriage equality campaign. In the video I talked about how my father, as a pastor, had performed the wedding ceremonies for both of my older brothers. I explained how I wanted the opportunity to ask my father if he would perform my ceremony when I was ready to get married, something I could only do once marriage equality was recognized. When my father found out about the video he told me he would not perform the ceremony, nor would he or my mother attend. Needless to say, I won't be wasting the energy or heartbreak of inviting them to my wedding.

Of course, part of a wedding is about the guests and the people in one's life that you will (and will not) be sharing the celebration of your love with. However, the real reason is the love itself.

Dallas and I have been together through so many hardships and so many adventures. He is emotionally brilliant and an insanely talented artist. I love his passion for music as well as his tastes in music. He will go out of the way to help the people that matter to him, but at the same time he won't put up with anybody's bullshit, not even mine. He challenges me to grow into a better version of myself and protects the parts of myself that I would otherwise ignore. He has a wicked sense of humor and has introduced me such depravity I have had to readjust my tastes (See Pink Flamingos). He understands my humor better than anyone else and half of the time gets the right answer to my "Laffy Taffy" jokes. He is adorable and has great style, and encourages me to explore my own style. I have other things I can say about him as well, and this is an 18+ blog, but I can't give away all my secrets, right? Haha!