Equity strikes again

It can be hard to look at the news these days, at least here in the US where our political life has been taken over by trolls. So it was great to read some good news coming out of Australia, where marriage equity became the law yesterday. It got me thinking about the role of marriage in gay romance stories.

My first book, Moving in Rhythm, came out in early 2012. At that point marriage in the US was a mess, with same-sex marriage legal in a handful of states, outright banned in more and in still others "civil  unions" made up a hybrid sort of marriage-lite. It was possible for a couple to come down from Canada where they'd been legally married, and drive around down here going from married to single to married again as they crossed state lines. People in California didn't even need to move around to have their marital status change.

With everything in flux, it just didn't make sense to have a love story between two men end in marriage in 2012. My first wedding book was Bread, Salt and Wine, which came out in 2014. Because the story spans several years and takes place mostly in California, whether or not George and Kenny can marry remains in flux through most of the book. It's only been three years since then, but all that is already ancient history. As of today, that's true even in Australia.

It is a cliche that in straight romance, the story always ends with a ring. That hasn't been true in gay romance, but things are changing. For me, I'm still not ready to have wedding bells at the end of every book, but I'm ever so grateful for the choice. And I'm happy to be thinking good thoughts today.