Most of us in the LGBT community who fought so hard and so long for same-sex marriage never realized that once S.C.O.T.U.S. finally gave us the right to wed partners, what a legal minefield marriage could be once we took our rose-colored glasses off just for a brief moment. The prospect of finally being able to legalize our relationships meant that most of us simply let our hearts totally overrule our heads when we planned our nuptials, assuming that we would all now live happily ever after from now on.
We cannot be totally blamed for taking this somewhat naive view and this really is just an extension of when we first accepted our sexuality and we found that part of our problems we simply had no LGBT role models to aspire too and shape our lives on. (The Marlboro Man doesn’t count!) Now moving into this new stage of our lives with only ‘straight’ marriages to base our plans and expectations upon, the LGBT community needs to establish its own guidelines and its own practices.
That is exactly what Miami based lawyer and LGBT activist Elizabeth Schwartz has done in new her book Before I Do which is just about be published. Elizabeth was a winner of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award, serves as co-chair of the national board of SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders), and is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) as well as its National Leadership Council. If that is not enough qualifications then we should add that she is also queerguru’s attorney and has advised on our pending marriage next year.
Elizabeth will be making an appearance at the Provincetown Public Library in celebration of Women’s Week and BridePride on October 9, 2016 at 2.30pm to launch the book. Before that she will be appearing on her home turf at Books & Books Cafe 927 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach on October 4, 2016 at 7 pm.
Plus if that is not enough (!) Elizabeth will be sitting down with queerguru to discuss the book that will be filmed for broadcast on P.T.V. and here on this site ……watch this space for further details
Before I Do A Legal Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise by Elizabeth F. Schwartz with an afterword by Jim Obergefell is published on October 4th by New Press
