82 Year Old Woman Comes out to Support Same-Sex Marriage

I went up to Vancouver, Washington for the first day marriage licenses were handed out to same-sex couples. On my way out, I met Patricia Lee an 82-year-old woman who came over to witness the celebrations. She said, “I remember when interracial marriages weren’t allowed. I had to come and be here for this.”

Patricia admitted there was a time when she was a bit homophobic. “I had to change, I educated myself. I'm straight, but I change with the times,” she said.

That was in the 1940s. “I didn’t know gay people in the 40s, but I have a lot of nice friends now. I want to be a bridesmaid. If I can, I’m going to be a bridesmaid.”

Patricia says she was married 27 years and she wants same-sex couples to have the same privilege.

What caused her change of heart? “Life, she says. “Seeing the gays have the same opportunities for happiness as the straights. That’s the most important. They deserve it. They don’t deserve to have to wait all these years to marry.”

When I asked if there was one thing that happened to cause her change of heart, Patricia said, “There was a gay girl that stood up for me when one of the other straights called me the “N” word. And that did it.”

“This is unacceptable in 2012,” Patricia said. So now she wants to volunteer to be a bridesmaid.