Barry Clayton and Michael Garaza

By Andy Eddins
May 14, 2009 at 11:15 pm

Barry Clayton and Michael Garaza have been together for ten years. They love to travel, host parties, and hang out with their family and friends.

Barry and Michael understand that sharing our stories and showing our faces helps the rest of America identify with our need to hold ourselves accountable to the promise of liberty, fairness and equality for all. "I know that we have changed the opinion of some heterosexuals who had definite skewed ideas of what it means to be gay," Barry said in response to a question from the Story Center. Michael added, "We hope that we can help to show others that marriage equality is nothing to be afraid of, and that promoting long term committed, stable relationships for everyone is in the best interest for our society."

There is no better way to communicate who we are and the depths of our commitment to our partners and our families than by telling the truth of our lives. Our stories help us communicate, in concrete ways, how the denial of marriage harms families.