Larry Benjamin. Wordsmith. Writer. Author.

I read about a year ago that the marriage equality movement had reached critical mass which meant it was essentially unstoppable; it could be resisted, it could be delayed but change was gonna come. And come it did, last week when SCOTUS, in a 5-4 decision, made marriage equality the law of the land. Like most successfully married couples, Stanley and I know each other better than anyone else knows us: he knows I miss seeing my father, that I hate the idea of being buried, knows I wish to be cremated; I know Stanley is loving, and generous and so is an organ donor.   To those wishing to deny me my fundamental rights based on their “religious beliefs,” I have this to say: I do not want to get married in your church before your God for I believe in neither. I don’t believe in your religion, a sanctified lean-to built on a foundation of fables, hearsay and superstition. And I don’t believe that a God, who would allow His son to be nailed to a cross, who would allow gene...

“…These empty white pages before me, which I feel compelled to fill with the black indelible ink of memory…I must write it all down—quickly, before it leaves me…” Thomas-Edward Lawrence What Binds Us   As 2014 draws to a close, I thought I’d look back over a year that was—for lack of a better work—brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. But before I go on, don’t take that to mean that it was a perfect year—it wasn’t; it brought with it, fears and disappointments and challenges. In retrospect, I like to think I met each of them with grace and a determination to overcome. But I like to learn from the bad stuff, not dwell on it so this post is about the good stuff, the stuff of which I’m most proud and for which I’m most grateful. In March, the Lambda Literary Foundation announced its 2014 Lambda Literary Awards (“Lammys”) My official Lammys photo. finalists. My semi-autobiographical third book, the gay coming of age romance, Unbroken made the cut: I was a finalist. I ...

 “You can’t marry another boy,” they told me. “Why not?” I asked, confused. “You said I could do anything. You said I could grow up to be President.” “You can’t marry another boy!” “But you said I’d grow up, and fall in love, and get married.” “You can’t fall in love with another boy!” ― Excerpt , Unbroken My father followed me into the kitchen. “I like Stanley,” he said. “He is the kind of person I imagined for you. Do me a favor. Keep this one.” I was startled for two reasons. One, my father doesn’t talk much, certainly not about anything of a personal nature. At least not to me. Second, he’d always hated all my boyfriends. Until that moment, until that conversation, I’d always assumed that he’d hated my boyfriends for their sex. Now I understood he’d hated them because he thought they weren’t good enough for me, that I deserved better. In all honestly, I had dated quite a collection of losers and lunatics. “I will, Space,” I promised. “I will.” Yesterday,...

 It was Tuesday, May 20. We were about to get out of the car to explore a new thrift store in Rehoboth Beach when my Twitter stream went crazy. U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones 3d had found Pennsylvania’s ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional. My brother called, then texted the news when I didn’t answer. In the middle of that thrift store, using my phone, I scrolled through the posts on Twitter in elation...and disbelief. “We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the trash heap of history,” Judge Jones wrote in his elegant opinion. No Stay. Then, on Wednesday, Governor Corbett announced , “I have decided not to appeal Judge Jones’ decision.” On Thursday, May 29, we went to Philadelphia City Hall and applied for a marriage license. There were two straight couples and us. No one looked twice at us. The clerk in his blasé manner asked us the usual ordinary questions: What’s your mother’s name? Her occupat...