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Archive Version of
Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples Online from 1995-2022 Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership. In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade. In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur. Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners. Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship. Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer. |
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Everything Possible by Tim Fisher © 1996, Tim Fisher On Valentine’s Day, my three-year-old son, Fritz, came home from Nursery School with a slew of Valentine’s in his lunch box. At the kitchen table, we opened them and read them together. At the bottom of the pile was a beautiful Pocahontas Valentine from Fritz’s good friend, Erin. On the back, Erin, who’s already writing simple sentences, had scrawled — “Will you marry me?” I thought this was adorable — his first proposal. Fritz smiled, thought for a minute, and said, “When I grow up, I want to marry Erin — or Zack.” Zack is an 11-year-old boy who comes over after school once or twice a week and baby-sits the kids while I’m upstairs working. He happened to be there that day, and heard what Fritz said. His response — “Gee Fritz, that’s nice!” This little interchange put me in a sunny mood all day. I called Zack’s house and told one of his moms the story. She laughed and said “And of course, you’ll be writing this one up for your next newsletter.” I did pause for a moment though, before running to my keyboard. One of the myths about the children of gay and lesbian parents is that they’re confused about their sexual identity. Does this vignette play right into that fear? Could this story be used against us? No, I reminded myself — Fritz is right! He’s a lucky kid, because at only three, he knows the truth. Marriage is about love. He can grow up to marry Erin or Zack, or someone else. He can marry the person he loves — no matter what their gender. And he may choose not to get married. Fritz isn’t confused — he’s well informed. He knows that there are all kinds of loving families. Living with two fathers, Fritz would be confused if he didn’t realize that this was one of life’s possibilities. Sometimes there is one parent, sometimes two, and sometimes even more — Fritz’s good friend, Jordan, even has two moms and a dad all happily living under the same roof. And he knows couples, who don’t have children — Aunt Debs and Uncle Brian leap to mind — and knows they’re a family too. By the time Fritz is ready to be married, his marriage will most likely be legally recognized — whether he marries a woman or a man. His other father and I have to wait a short time longer for our marriage to be legally recognized — we hope.
Of course, wise little Fritz has my blessing. When he grows up, he can marry Erin or Zack. They’d both make terrific in-laws. And in the meantime, we’ll keep singing our favorite bedtime lullaby, “Everything Possible,” made famous by The Flirtations.
© 1996, Tim Fisher. former Executive Director, Gay Lesbian Parents Coalition International (now Family Pride Coalition)
Note: The song “Everything Possible” is written by singer/songwriter Fred Small and contains
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