Joan Hepsworth and Tammy Perone-Hepsworth
Joan Hepsworth, who’s non-binary, and their spouse Tammy Perone-Hepsworth, 55, grew up simply miles aside in a small Ohio city. They went to the identical colleges and Joan even had a crush on Tammy in highschool — a lot in order that they made her a chunk of pottery in artwork class, however by no means labored up the braveness to offer it to her.
“I requested her if she remembered who I used to be and she or he did not,” Joan instructed CBS News, “however I may inform her how she walked.”
So, it wasn’t till years later, after they have been of their mid-20s, that they crossed paths once more at an area bar.
“I bear in mind calling my greatest pal and saying, how does it work? Is this a date or are we simply going out as mates as a result of she mentioned we went to highschool collectively,” Tammy instructed CBS News. “… Still to this present day, I’m 55, and it’s the greatest date I’ve ever had. She cooked hen. I used to be weight-reduction plan on the time, and she or he was like, ‘Well, I’ll make you some inexperienced beans.’ She fried this stuff in oil. It was so lovely. And she performs guitar. And so after we ate, she sat at my ft and performed guitar and sang. And I do not assume we kissed the primary day. The second day she kissed me, nevertheless it was a kind of lengthy drawn out issues that simply makes it higher.”
After relationship on and off for years, they bought married in a gazebo in New York’s Central Park on November 11, 2011, at 11:11 a.m., one of many few states that allowed same-sex marriages on the time.
Four years later, on the day that same-sex marriage was federally legalized, they ran to an enormous celebration in downtown Tampa, Florida — their new house — and bought married once more. Today, they run a small, however bustling bookstore in Florida.
“I’m not the identical individual I used to be once we have been in junior excessive or highschool and even near being after that … And I believe that it was in all probability a great factor that we weren’t collectively for just a few years,” Joan mentioned. “It instilled the truth that we went by way of all these totally different experiences, and we may come again and make our expertise even higher and extra grounded and extra mature and higher for the each of us.”
Paul Bradford and Paul Martin
Paul Bradford and his husband, Paul Martin, have been married for 2 years, however as a result of coronavirus pandemic and points with immigration processes, they could not be collectively till three months in the past.
The couple, who affectionately name themselves Paul Squared, met in 2016 by way of a Facebook group. One day, Bradford, who lived in Florida, was by chance kicked out of the corresponding group chat, and when Martin, who was based mostly within the U.Ok., went so as to add him again in, they struck up a dialog.
“In the start, it wasn’t so unhealthy. It was simply getting the time zones proper as a result of they have been 5 hours forward. And then it bought to the place we have been simply chatting day-after-day. And that was a number of instances a day,” Paul Bradford instructed CBS News.
A number of months later, they determined to spend per week collectively, and shortly realized how a lot they liked being collectively. The drawback with beginning a brand new relationship, they defined, was that they lived an ocean aside.
“You’re not speaking about simply flying over … you are speaking about an costly aircraft ticket forwards and backwards. You’re in a unique nation,” Paul Bradford mentioned. “… We have been simply going to see one another each three months, however we had some stuff happening with my job — It ended up taking one other three months earlier than we bought to see one another once more.”
A grueling course of with immigration ensued. There was intensive paperwork and the pandemic pressured interviews and conferences to be postponed. Then, simply earlier than midnight on March 20, Paul Martin lastly arrived within the U.S. to dwell together with his husband.
“It took without end. We have been married for 2 years at that time. We bought married, we went forward and had our honeymoon. We needed to look forward to the wedding certificates to indicate up after which we turned within the paperwork to try to get it over right here. It took two years as a result of the pandemic hit and that simply shut the whole lot down,” Paul Bradford mentioned. “It’s our first time dwelling collectively. We’ve by no means spent greater than two weeks collectively at a time. So we’re coping with one another’s little quirks, little idiosyncrasies. He likes to do issues this fashion. I love to do it that method … I really like him being right here … I’ve no regrets.”
Nina Borders and Diana Shanks
As Nina Borders and Diana Shanks prefer to say, they’re like “a yin and a yang.” Nina, 35, is a firefighter medic with large desires and a love for events and touring, whereas Diana, 24, is a group organizer for a racial justice and jail abolition group who thrives on logistical planning, studying and studying.
Borders instructed CBS News that one of many issues she loves most about Shanks is that she is without doubt one of the few individuals who challenges her.
“I’m constantly rising,” she mentioned. “I develop after which she grows after which we develop as a pair. And that is sort of actually lovely.”
The couple met in 2018 when Diana utilized to work with the Pasco Pride group. One 12 months later, they grew to become a pair. Now, virtually three years later, Diana has come out as pansexual, and she or he and Nina — who’s now the CEO of Pasco Pride — are working to make it possible for all LGBTQ people of their group have entry to the assets and assist they want.
“It’s actually highly effective to be in a relationship the place you are constructing one thing collectively that is larger than yourselves,” Shanks instructed CBS News. “This relationship could be very a lot in regards to the two of us and our love for one another, but in addition, we’re constructing one thing collectively that is gonna outlive us and it is gonna depart a mark.”
“To be out and proud at present, to be fully, simply dwelling in our lives on the market, it feels superb,” Borders mentioned. “And it feels very pure on the identical time …. And I believe that is the way it ought to really feel — liberating.”
Gina and Sally
Sally and Regina’s love story started virtually 47 years in the past when the couple met by way of a pal in widespread. After their first stroll on the seaside in Virginia, Gina — who on the time was nonetheless Roger — had made up her thoughts: Sally was the girl she wished to spend the remainder of her life with.
Four many years and two kids later, the couple’s bond is even stronger: “I knew immediately this was a really particular individual,” Sally mentioned. “I’m not going to say that it was at all times straightforward, however I really like the individual that she is deep inside. The very tender person who I married remains to be right here. That hasn’t modified.”
Sally recounts the second her husband, Roger, grew to become Gina: “It wasn’t straightforward. I assumed it was my fault. Maybe I wasn’t adequate, or I wasn’t fairly sufficient. It brings tears to my eyes to speak about it. But I noticed it was the individual inside her I used to be in love with. And I could not be with out her. So, what she seemed like on the surface did not actually matter anymore. It’s love in its purest type,” she mentioned.
“You must do quite a lot of soul looking with your self first. You must be okay with what different folks assume,” she continued. That takes loads. Once you’ve got achieved that, and understand that your life is healthier along with your associate than it might be for those who have been aside, you’ve got just about made up your thoughts.”
Gina and Sally
Gina, who was once within the Navy, mentioned she’s spent an enormous a part of her life having to carry her feelings in and conceal who she actually was: “When I used to be male, I simply noticed life as one thing I went by way of. But after I grew to become a woman, the world modified from major colours to many, many shades. It made me really feel proper inside,” she mentioned. “I may really feel love deeper than I ever had.”
Sally mentioned that no matter life throws at relationships, love is at all times price combating for: “I am unable to think about a day of my life with out Gina. I’m not going anyplace,” she mentioned. “Being with Sally makes me fly. I simply completely adore her. It’s actually pure,” Gina mentioned.
Aisha and Lasharndra
Aisha and Lasharndra met on a relationship platform two years in the past and have been inseparable ever since.
“At first, I did not assume we have been going to make it as a pair as a result of I did not assume that my strong-willed persona was going to mesh properly together with her further giving spirit, however as I began trying inside, I began growing a deeper love for her,” Lasharndra mentioned.
Lasharndra mentioned her bond with Aisha “is like Gorilla Glue: It’s unbreakable.”
“She bridged the hole between my robust exterior and my deep-rooted hidden softer aspect — one thing nobody else had been capable of do,” she mentioned.
Aisha and Lasharndra
Lasharndra says that just a few of the issues that make their relationship profitable is that they “consistently make it in regards to the different individual, have enjoyable, discover and date like we simply met.”
Like each relationship, Aisha and Lasharndra have had their ups and downs: “You must work arduous at it and hold pushing by way of the hardest instances and at all times care for one another. When it involves true unconditional love, it’s best to love them for precisely who they’re with out putting any expectations,” Aisha mentioned.
“We are one another’s yin to the yang. I would not need it another method.”
