Marriage Matters: Sharing Our Stories
Takia (right), 30, is an administrative assistant for a hospital laundry services company. Jo, 38, is a Baltimore city bus driver for the Maryland Transit Authority. Takia and Jo live in Baltimore and have been together for over two years. They had a commitment ceremony in June and are raising two children, a twelve-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son.
As an employee of the State of Maryland, Jo cannot enroll Takia or the children in the state health plan. Until recently, Takia and the kids were forced to go without insurance because she was working part-time. Now that she is a full-time employee, she and their children are covered, but the insurance is inferior to the coverage Jo receives from the state. Being without insurance took its toll on the family. Their son has asthma, which forced Takia and Jo to struggle with whether they could afford medical care for their son or not.
In 2003, Jo had an emergency gallbladder operation at a Baltimore hospital, and Takia was barred from seeing Jo or receiving any information about Jo's condition. Takia was forced to sit in the waiting room and worry about Jo's well-being. Had they been married, Takia could have participated in discussions with hospital staff about Jo's care.
Read through other families' stories here:
- Carmen and Anisia Machado
- Denise and Treeva Liggett-Creek
- Shelley Hayes and Mary Horvath
- Terri Miller and Cindy Simms
- Mark McKinney and Steve Lepre
- Jennifer Lin and Jeanne Fong
- Lori and Cin Diné
- Gita Deane and Lisa Polyak
- Nigel Simon and Alvin Williams
- Jo Rabb and Takia Foskey
- Lisa Laurey and Toni Williamson
- Richard Phelps and Mitchell Wood
- Desiree Leone and Carolee Stoll
- Barry Clayton and Michael Garaza
- Stephanie Furness and Shannon Kearns
- Charles Blackburn and Glen Dehn
- Delia Meraz and Persephone Gonzalez
- Amorie Robinson and Hattie Alexander-Robinson
Why Marriage Matters America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
By Evan Wolfson
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Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
