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(Image courtesy Cynthia Viola Photography)
The co-founders of RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, Cindy & Marianne, launched the website on the eve of Y2K, years before the term 'marriage equality' was commonly used... Even members of the LGBTQ+ community were unsure and skeptical, when the young entrepreneurs began marketing their idea for an expansive online wedding resource dedicated to same-gender couples.
A lot has changed since then!
And throughout the past two and a half decades, RWN's founders have managed the evolving business, produced and attended hundreds of LGBTQ+ wedding expos across the country, and chatted with tens of thousands of couples and LGBTQ+ friendly vendors from all walks. Cindy and Marianne have witnessed, and been an integral part of, many of the milestones of LGBTQ+ marriage equality!
Today, couples often ask our team here at RWN what the future holds. Nervous, and rightly so, they are uncertain about what the status of their own legal rights will be in the months and years ahead.
When asked, Cindy and Marianne like to offer a few happy insights... and a little bit of hope.
'We're not legal experts,' they say, 'but our friends and associates who are tell us that it's likely SCOTUS will overturn the Obergefell decision, which means that LGBTQ+ marriage rights will return to the states. That will be devastating of course, and will have very real consequences for couples and our families all across America.
'But, without trying to downplay the legitimate impact of such a decision... it can be helpful to keep in mind a few things. For instance, in 1999, very few members of the LGBTQ+ community thought it would ever be remotely possible for them to have access to equal marriage rights within their own lifetimes. And yet, in 2015 the Obergefell decision passed. Even during the decade preceding that landmark decision, state upon state passed their own marriage recognition laws, some being civil unions, some full marriage rights, some expanded domestic partnership recognitions.
'And beyond that, during the years between 2000 and 2015, here at RainbowWeddingNetwork we could discern another kind of change: more parents (of adult children) were attending our LGBTQ+ wedding expos and helping their kid/s plan their celebrations... More businesses were coming forward -from independent business owners to corporate- to support our work as a wedding resource for LGBTQ+ couples. We published the nation's first LGBTQ+ wedding magazine, from 2006-2012, and a coloring book for kids with 2 moms or 2 dads, and those publications did quite well. Stock imagery online began showing same-gender couples interacting more realistically; the words 'marriage equality' were heard more and more not just across political platforms but within the general sectors as well. In public places, we began to see couples hold hands; companies like Subaru began running inclusive ads.
'Change -real change- was taking place. And not just legal change, but a cultural shift within the mindset of people all across the country: It wasn't just our community's access to equal rights that was progressing; it was the general public's awareness about the issues, and the growing enthusiasm of their support, that was taking hold.'
And so, continue Cindy and Marianne, even if Obergefell is overturned in the next year or so... We have reason to believe that even such an impactful and heartbreaking decision will NOT dial back the cultural shift, at least not 100 percent. And so, the pendulum will swing back again in favor of Equality. And that swing will not take decades and decades: too much progress has already been made.
Of course there are naysayers and citizens in the USA who are against LGBTQ+ equality, and staunchly opposed to marriage rights for our community. But they are not in the majority.
An expansion of equality is the promise of our nation, and though it takes time and all too often there are chapters that are arduous, unjust, brutal or bloody, that promise endures. Despite the political climate we find ourselves in, here in 2025, the experiences within the LGBTQ+ marriage equality movement this past 25 years have shown us -all of us- that the promise does indeed remain intact.
It is that promise we strive for, and we must set our sights upon, day after day. It may seem idealistic, but Love Prevails, and that includes fairness and equality. As a community we may have a difficult road ahead, for awhile, but it will ease again. We must stay the course, and do what we can to buoy ourselves, uplift others, and continue to work toward that higher cause.
This season of Pride, such words are important to keep in mind.
