Norwalk: Protester: 'I'm concerned about America breaking down'

Cindy Gise, 59, a retired teacher from Santa Clarita, and Elaine Martin, 61, met at a Cal State Northridge sorority 40 years ago.

"For me it was love at first sight, it really was,'' said Gise outside the courthouse in Norwalk. The pair were dressed in matching Hawaiian shirts and khaki pants.

Early in their friendship, she told Martin: "You need to know this about me and I don't want to scare you. I'm lesbian, but there are no strings attached."

"Two days later, [Martin] comes up to me with two lollipops with one big great string and said, 'I want strings!'"

Three weeks ago, on the last leg of a 50-state tour, Gise proposed to Martin in Alabama. "We've been to all 50 states but this journey's not over,'' she said. "Will you marry me?"

Standing out in the jubilant crowd was a lone protester holding a sign reading:  "Marriage is to be held in honor. Heb 3:4."

"I'm concerned about America breaking down,'' said Karen Wilson, 51, a driver for a trucking company. "This is just adding to it."

Jaasiel Elias, 20, and his bride-to-be, Sarai Hernandez, 20, took a minute to realize they were in line just ahead of a stream of same-sex couples.

"Then,'' he said, "it clicked."

--Tami Abdollah

Photo: Elaine Martin,61, left, and Cindy Gise, 59, outside the courthouse.

Photo credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Michael]

To Karen Wilson:

America will only break down when we forget that the foundational document of the country is the Constitution, not the Bible. America was founded by people who, while themselves largely Christian, knew that the country could never survive as a Christian state. That's why there's the Establishment clause, and its why your religious views, while respectable, do not form the basis for law in this country.

The breakdown begins when America loses sight of those secular values that informed and created the State, not God's values, which informed the Founding Fathers to explicitly restrict the application of God's law to those free men and women made citizens of these United States. The Founding Fathers were (largely) highly-educated, intelligent Christians who knowingly and deliberately set aside their own faiths in law to create a State that was secular, impartial, equal, and not open to the all-to-fickle ideas of theologians.

Many of those Fathers would rejoice at this logical and equanimous application of the instruments of their design: the Supreme Court of California has done exactly what it was designed to do ... were they alive today they may very well side either for or against gay marriage as their stars and faith dictate, but they'd be deeply happy that the State is working correctly.

The sad thing is that so many who profess to follow the will of the Founding Fathers and their (again, largely, but not exclusively) Christian Faith have fallen so far from the tree of knowledge that the Fathers, to a man, rejoiced in. When, exactly, did education become so hated in this country?

[Wendy]

A warm congratulations to Cindy and Elaine from Wendy P. in New Hampshire. It's been 42 years since we last saw each other, Cindy, so it is delightful to find you while looking at the coverage of today's events in California. My partner and I were the first in our town here in New Hampshire to take out Civil Union papers as soon as they became available, and had a nice ceremony in January when it became legal. We have all walked a long road to come to this place. I wish you both great happiness, and hope that in November reason and humanity prevail. Good luck!

[JB]

Why is this article titled "Norwalk: Protester: 'I'm concerned about America breaking down" instead of "Lovely Couple Finally able to Wed after 40 Years"?

[Amy Alkon]

If he's concerned about marriage breaking down, why isn't he picketing Britney Spears and Pamela Anderson?

[Ai]

Protestors,
If you are so concerned about honoring marriage, why not take up a fight against divorce and remarriage instead of against loving couples? Why not concentrate your efforts there or against allowing drunk people in Vegas to get married (and then get it annulled the next day)? Why should so many other people who treat marriage so lightly have the right to get married when some who are in committed relationships should not? Since it involves legality and legal rights that come with marriage, religion is not in question, anyway.