Gay Wedding Announcement and Complaint

Before we left on holiday, we sent our wedding announcement to several local papers. It was printed in the Bay Area Reporter (a GLBT weekly newspaper in San Francisco), the San Jose Mercury News (one of the top ten newspapers in the country), The Los Gatos Weekly (my old hometown paper; my parents still live there; and the first time they have published a same-sex announcement), and The J. (the Jewish news weekly of Northern California). All the announcements were very similar with a picture and a write-up of the service. While we were gone The J. printed the follow letter to the editor:

Road to insanity?
Reading the Aug.5 lifecycles announcement of Edwin Jones and Edward Reynolds on their “marriage” and effort to destroy the traditional family: Congratulations on your friendship and union and success in obtaining legal benefits.
But married you are not.
Marriage by definition always has been between a man and woman since the institution was developed in prehistory to create a family of mother, father and children. It cannot be changed because a selfish minority of people want to do so (yes, Edwin and Edward, you are selfish because you have abandoned your children in every possible way.)
J. was a family publication; it no longer. That photo and accompanying article are pornographic. What will J. endorse next? Guns for Arabs in the name of equality? Compassion for Nazi murderers who were “only doing their job”? Celebrate the “marriage” between a Muslim bomber and his camel?
Please do not continue on your suicidal road to insanity. Write and do what is correct, not what a tiny minority dictates.
name withheld by GuyDads (I don’t want to give him more personal credit), Lodi, CA

The next week’s issues had four letters of support towards us, our family and our marriage. Two were written by people who attended our wedding. The two other letters were written by people we don’t know.

We are a bit surprised that The J. published the attacking letter, but maybe the staff felt that publishing an extreme reaction, the ridiculous stance would be even the more evident.It will be interesting to see what further reactions, if any, occur. We hope some other same-sex marriage is soon in The J. again just to show that we are not the only "selfish" ones out there.

Family Wedding Photo

Taken at our wedding in June. The GuyDads family: E and I and our six kids.

Things I Learned in England

We are back from our 3 week vacation in England and Scotland. The first two weeks we did England’s Coast to Coast Walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. The term “walk” is a misnomer. It is a challenging and strenuous hike. We did 10 to 20 miles a day, for 14 days with no breaks. The mountains, crags and fells in the Lake District were amazing. The countryside in the Yorkshire Dales and Moors was beautiful.
Our third week was spent at the Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. It claims to be the world’s largest performing arts festival. In 6.5 days we saw 25 productions.
This was only my second trip to England. E and I went to London 2 years ago and saw 8 shows in a week.

I am still learning about all thing English.

• Look RIGHT when crossing the street.


• When ordering a sandwich, a pickle is not the same thing as a gherkin. I learned to love Branston Pickle.


• Pudding is not the same glop the Bill Crosby sells. Instead they are sweet cakes called: Spotted Dick, Jam Roly Poly, Bread and Butter Pudding, Syrup Sponge, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.


• For breakfast, I like “normal coffee” not “regular” and “brown toast” not “wheat toast”.


• Beer…mmmmmmm. We drank lots of it, trying every different draft we came across.


• The English can’t plumb a decent shower or flushable toilet, but the heated towel racks are awesome.
  
• Learned to love accommodations labled "ensuite".


• The English also don’t believe in building trails with switchbacks. One goes straight up the mountain and straight down the other side.


• The exchange rate for dollars to pounds sucks. There are no shopping bargains. One dollar equals about .55 pounds.