WESTERN SKIES - February 12, 2005

*** GAY VALENTINES DAY ***

ERIC WHITNEY: This February, two Colorado couples are celebrating their first Valentine's day together since tying the knot last April. Jeannine Miller reports that the journey to the altar took the two couples to both coasts, and even had them contemplating a trip out of the country.

JEANNINE MILLER: Lynn Elm-Picard is in love. Last spring she wanted to get married, so she proposed. She came home with roses and a card that asked a simple question.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: There was a proposal, and she obviously said yes.

MILLER: "She" is Ginger Elm-Picard, Lynne's girlfriend of over seven years. They wanted to make it official, for their family. Lynne and Ginger have two young sons, Garrett and Carson, ages five and three.

But Colorado doesn't recognize same-sex marriages. Lynne and Ginger considered their options.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: We had read in the newspaper about San Francisco, and at that time they were doing it, and had looked into going to San Francisco but at that time the dates for San Francisco were about a month out for reservation dates.

MILLER: They then tried their luck in New York. They had heard that a mayor in a town called New Paltz was performing same-sex marriages.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: We read on the Internet about New Paltz and decided that if couples like us didn't stand up and do something to make it known that these rights were something that were needed, and not something that was crazy and off the wall, then who else would we expect to do it? So we got on a plane.

MILLER: Lynne and Ginger flew to New York with their friends Linda Schliebe and Tam Schliebe, another same-sex couple from Colorado. In New Paltz, the couples went to the Mayor's Office to see if they could be added to the waiting list and get married. While they were standing outside, a man approached and shared his disagreement about the weddings.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: Can I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE (PROTESTER): Yeah, I wanted to see if I could stop gay marriages. Put a stop to it just to give them--put some sense into the people here. It's horrible! It confuses children.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: As a matter of fact sir, we have two young sons and it doesn't confuse them at all. They're very well adjusted, wonderful boys.

PROTESTER: When you die, you're gonna come in front of God. And you're gonna to have to account for--

ELM-PICARD: So are you.

PROTESTER: Yes, I am. I'm going to heaven. And I have--I do sins, but I don't stay in sin.

MILLER: Despite the negative remarks, Lynne and Ginger, along with their friends Tam and Linda, returned to the Mayor's Office the next day. They were disappointed to learn that the Mayor wasn't performing any more ceremonies, based on the advice of his attorney.

Frustrated, again they returned to Colorado even more committed to making it official. The two couples kept looking for options. Massachusetts seemed like a possibility, but--

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: You have to actually be a resident of Massachusetts in order to be married in Massachusetts and since the four of us aren't planning to move to Massachusetts at this time, even if we went there and were married, it still wouldn't be legal because we weren't residents of Massachusetts.

MILLER: So they did some more research. Tam found a judge in Portland, Oregon to marry her and her partner Linda. Soon all four were planning for weddings in Multnomah County. But even after they set a date, Linda says that the couples were still considering a trip to Canada.

LINDA ELM-PICARD: And that was our backup plan, that if we got to Oregon and they said "No, it's not gonna happen" and they stopped it, that we would just take the drive up to Vancouver.

MILLER: But they didn't have to. Both couples were able to make it official in Oregon. For Lynne and Ginger's ceremony there was something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: Ginger went to my grandmother for the something old. And got my grandmother to let her borrow their wedding rings. So, it was very special. Something I didn't expect at all.

MILLER: Lynne and Ginger's sons couldn't make the trip to Oregon. But they were happy that Lind and Tam were there. The next day, Linda and Tam were married by the same judge. Linda says that the ceremonies were special.

LINDA ELM-PICARD: It reminded me of the stories that you hear of many, many years back when a couple would go into a small town to get married by the judge in their office with just their couple friends or the court's clerk. And it was intimate and it was very meaningful. It was great to be able to stand up for them to have them stand up for us.

MILLER: The couples were elated to finally tie the knot and make it legal. Even if the state of Colorado doesn't recognize the marriages, the state of Oregon does. At least for now.

LINDA ELM-PICARD: And it's before the Oregon Supreme Court at this point. They don't expect a ruling to come down until March fifth. But we've got marriage certificates and marriage licenses and it's more official than all of the others, except for Massachusetts, which is now the only place in the union that it is a legal right.

MILLER: Lynne proudly shares the official documents that make their marriages legal.

LINDA ELM-PICARD: This is the application [reading from document]: "Marriage certificate. This is to certify that the undersigned, a Circuit Court Judge, by authority of a license bearing date--

MILLER: The documents may be legal for now. But gay marriage is being challenged in the courts and Congress.

LYNNE ELM-PICARD: We just don't want that to happen and even though it's not recognized in this state, we're recognized somewhere. You know, and that's a good thing. But I think that's probably our biggest fear is that they're going to say "sorry" and they're going to send us back our forty-five dollars. [laughs] And say "that's just void."

MILLER: But for now at least, this Valentine's Day will be one that Lynne and Ginger, and Linda and Tam, can finally celebrate as married couples.

For Western Skies, I am Jeannine Miller.