According to Lin Davis and Maureen Longworth of Juneau, it’s not often that the same couple gets to marry one another more than once. The couple celebrated their wedding anniversary three times over on Sept. 15, 2015.
Twenty-five years ago they had “the big wedding” on the Russian River in California with a hundred friends and family. They exchanged vows under the flowering trellis in the garden on the grassy knoll under willows leading down to the river, supported by words from their parents and friends.
At the time it was unusual for a same sex couple to “marry” with no legal access to marriage in any state.
With parents who role modeled strong lifetime marriage commitments, Davis and Longworth knew marriage was exactly right for them based on the love they had for one another.
In 2008, on their 18-year anniversary, they were legally married in California, but their marriage was not recognized in most states, including their home state of Alaska. The couple remained grateful they had proceeded with their first non-legal wedding in 1990 when their fathers were still alive.
Today marks the first wedding anniversary their marriage is recognized here in Alaska and all 50 states. Although their parents have passed, Davis and Longworth remember the words of their parents from 1990: “May the barriers against you fall away and may you have all the love you have for each other, reflected back to you, all the days of your lives. You have all our love.”
Davis and Longworth said they truly feel held in the love of Juneau’s community.
