Marriage Matters: Sharing Our Stories
Gita, 43, is a learning specialist at Goucher College. Lisa, 44, is an environmental engineer for the U.S. Army Medical Department. They live in Baltimore and have been together for 24 years. They are raising two daughters, ages six and nine.
Gita and Lisa met their freshman year at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. As a citizen of India, Gita was in the United States on a student visa. When they fell in love and wanted to build a life together, it was apparent immigration laws would force them apart. Had Lisa and Gita been recognized as spouses, they could easily have remained together. Because they couldn't marry, the couple embarked on a years-long odyssey to establish residency for Gita. There were many anxious moments — like a deportation notice and a tearful goodbye at JFK airport — when the distraught couple did not know if Gita would ever be able to return to the United States. Fortunately, Gita received a work sponsorship and was granted full U.S. citizenship in 1994. But Gita and Lisa want marriage rights to further protect their relationship and their children from other harms, and to ensure that no loving couple will have to be torn apart because of political borders.
The family attends Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, where both of Gita and Lisa's daughters were baptized. Gita and Lisa enjoy traveling together as a family. A favorite local pastime is taking their daughters to the zoo.
Read through other families' stories here:
- Carmen and Anisia Machado
- Denise and Treeva Liggett-Creek
- Shelley Hayes and Mary Horvath
- Terri Miller and Cindy Simms
- Mark McKinney and Steve Lepre
- Jennifer Lin and Jeanne Fong
- Lori and Cin Diné
- Gita Deane and Lisa Polyak
- Nigel Simon and Alvin Williams
- Jo Rabb and Takia Foskey
- Lisa Laurey and Toni Williamson
- Richard Phelps and Mitchell Wood
- Desiree Leone and Carolee Stoll
- Barry Clayton and Michael Garaza
- Stephanie Furness and Shannon Kearns
- Charles Blackburn and Glen Dehn
- Delia Meraz and Persephone Gonzalez
- Amorie Robinson and Hattie Alexander-Robinson
Why Marriage Matters America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
By Evan Wolfson
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Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
