Personal Stories

by Gary Swenson and Dean Genth

When we first got together, we decided Iowa was not the place for a gay couple, so in 2003 we decided to move from our Mason City home to a big city where we could melt into the anonymous life that large crowds and big cities afforded.

Mark and Janet Rosenbury have been working for LGBT equality for nearly 20 years. When the couple moved to Des Moines, that effort naturally progressed to marriage equality.

"I think all loving couples should have the same rights," Janet says. "Why should Mark and I have any special rights that gay people don't have? We can't help but think if you don't have the same rights, it's like they are second class citizens."

"At best," Mark adds.

To many people in Iowa, David Twombley and Larry Hoch are a symbol of marriage.

But a decade ago, when the couple met, neither really considered marriage a possibility, let alone imagining they would be thanked over and over for helping others marry.

"My parents had a wonderful marriage and my brother had a wonderful marriage, and I was naive enough to think everyone had a wonderful marriage," says David. "And it was something I never thought I'd have."

One of the absolute joys of my job is receiving letters like this one from Kori and Becky, who married in Davenport this month. Please share with every Iowan you know who should be thanked and inspired for the work they do for LGBT equality in our state.

Sometimes total strangers can change your life.

No matter the odds stacked against us, Becky and I both knew we would get married some day. After dating for two years, we set the date: June 19, 2010. However, we live in Texas where same-sex marriages are not recognized.

Although it took John and Lowell Oliver-Shaw years to become a couple, once they got together, they knew marriage wasn't far off.

"John proposed, and we thought we'd get married on a trip to California," Lowell said. "But then they passed Prop 8, so we decided to wait. Then I had a conference coming up in Boston, we talked about marrying there."

When Holly and Jason married recently in Denver, they wrote the following letter pledging continued commitment to marriage equality. Their friend Christopher read the letter during their ceremony, and the couple received many requests for a copy from attendees.

Open letter to our friends and family: