Hersband And Wife Marriage Equality Tour

Meet Hersband & Wife, a comedic lesbian advice column team with a twist. Hersband is a visionary butch lesbian, who came out in the years just after Stonewall. Wife is of the more feminine variety and carries out Hersband’s vision. Although Wife always knew she was a lesbian she wanted children so she did not really come out until around the time she met Hersband. The two fell in love and when Wife’s husband moved out, Hersband moved in. The couple have been together ever since and six years later, they are still going strong.

Hersband & Wife’s sense of humor is not only unique but all the buzz as they seem to have captured quite a following. Although there is an ever-present edge of humor in most everything they say and do, there is one thing these women are dead serious about and that is marriage equality.

Hersband & Wife talked to PrideDEPOT.com about a rather unique and ambitious vision they have had in the works for three years that is now becoming a reality. “I come up with these bizarre ideas,” says Hersband, “and Wife makes them happen.”

And so the Hersband & Wife Marriage Equality Tour was born.

The duo will be traveling across the United States in a forty foot RV clad in sponsorship advertising where at each stop they will conduct a mass same-sex wedding. The tours slogan is; “50 Weddings, 50 States, 50 weeks, Bringing Awareness to 1138 rights and privileges GLBT marriages, civil unions & domestic partnerships are DENIED.”

The couple sees a problem with a lot of the larger national organizations, that they tend to be scattered off in different directions, duplicating efforts and not unified enough to get any one significant thing done.

“There is no one spokes person for the entire community as a whole,” says Wife. “We need someone that will focus on one thing and go with it and make a point.”

It is Hersband & Wife’s intention to bring LGBT and ally communities across the country together on the marriage issue in a way that has never been done before. The couple strongly believes that marriage equality should be front and center in the LGBT civil rights movement. They hope that with this tour, they will elevate marriage equality the top of the LGBT civil rights to do list.

“Were kind of a grass roots thing, we get peoples attention,” says Hersband. Although this dynamic duo approach the most serious of issues with humor, Husband does add, “We do always skirt on the edge of being heavy political.”

“We want to show the world that we’re not afraid to drive across the country in a big huge rainbow RV,” says Wife. “We are not afraid to speak out no matter what small town or big town we go to.”

Don’t be fooled by these women, this “whimsical lesbian comedic advice duo,” are very serious and have more vision and guts than most.

Living just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, “I always say we don’t live in the Bible belt we live in the middle of the buckle,” Wife says. Hersband adds that when they meet someone new, the first question out of their mouth is “what church you belong too.”

Now picture this, two lesbians in the local coffee house blogging and discussing how to respond to other lesbians asking advice on anything from dating to how to tell your children you’re gay. This is all taking place, as Hersband puts it, next to “a country western bible study” going on at the tables around them.

Although his picture may be somewhat hilarious, these women are not fooled into thinking this will be easy. They are however focused, dedicated and fully prepared to face head on what may come their way.

“We are tying to get people to understand that we are human beings and we all have been raised, gay or straight,” Hersband asserts, “to want a partner, a family, a home and for some children, everybody wants that!”

“Were trying to get everybody to understand that my gay marriage doesn’t effect your straight marriage.” Wife adds. “What is hurting straight marriage is straight divorce, not gay marriages!”

The couples main objective is to open the hearts and minds of people across the country and unite LGBT and ally communities. They want everyone to know that “gay doesn’t rub off” and it’s “ok to be a family and be gay.”

Hersband & Wife are working hard at gathering as many corporate sponsors as possible to fund the trip. They are currently in negotiations with several companies, some are very high profile, and more are in the works.

Carrying their creativity one step further, in addition to the corporate sponsors, those who make small donations on the Hersband & Wife website, or at local events, will have the name of their choice written on the RV as a kind of rolling petition for Marriage Equality. Additionally, those who would like to ride along on a leg of the tour may do so for a fee to support the cause.

Currently the women say they have high school and college student groups putting together fundraisers in their local communities. Grass roots organizing and special events are also being planned to engage the larger community. Included in typical Hersband & Wife style, is for all to have great fun in the process.

The Hersband & Wife Marriage Equality Tour is slated to launch October 31, 2009 in Atlanta Georgia

While on the road, the couple plan to blog on daily events and to keep up an interactive USA Tour Map with dates and events in each state. For more information on becoming a sponsor, host an event, help organize weddings, or just to monitor tour progress, visit HersbandAndWife.com or contact them at Sponsor@HersbandAndWife.com

These dynamic and ambitious women are most defiantly on the road for to change and PrideDEPOT.com will be keeping a close eye on their travels - Pride Depot

Where is the love? Seems TRUE love is only legal in 6 states. It’s quite sad, really –
to know you have found the person you want to grow old with, but are terrified
because you have absolutely NO protection, NO rights, NO legal representation
of the commitment you share. Most people fear old age because they know
they’re closer to death and what not. Me? I fear old age because I don’t know if
I’ll ever be able to take care of my partner should they come down with
something I can’t fix with Tylenol or Imodium. Gays get sick too, you know? VERY
sick. If only disease were as discriminate as the rest of the America, maybe this
would not be as big an issue.

While many state organizations are working to mitigate the unequal distribution
of rights within their own jurisdictions, Hersband and Wife has taken on the feat
of publicly addressing the issue nationwide. Hersband and Wife is a “whimsical”
duo of lesbian advice columnists who have decided to embark on a Marriage
Equality Tour across the USA, beginning in Atlanta, GA on October 31st
The tour’s slogan is; “50 Weddings, 50 States,
50 weeks, Bringing Awareness to 1138 rights
and privileges GLBT marriages, civil unions &
domestic partnerships are DENIED.”

Just a few days after Hersband and Wife
announced their National Marriage Equality
Tour, the state of Massachusetts filed suit
against the Federal Government over the
Domestic Marriage Act (DOMA). Our
federalist government has maintain a
state-by-state hold on whether or not residents are able to marry their same-sex
partners. I am all for state sovereignty except when it interferes with my personal
sovereignty to exist and be happy. As the MA attorney general pointed out, DOMA
puts the state in a completely contradictory position with the federal government.
DOMA states the following: 1) No state (or other political subdivision within the
United States) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a
marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state; and 2)
The federal government defines marriage as a legal union exclusively between one
man and one woman.

I think the legislation speaks for itself.

While MA has taken a critical step in highlighting the legalities (or lack thereof) of
DOMA’s discriminatory legislative hold, Hersband and Wife is dedicated to
shedding light on the issue in a more personal way. Visiting at least one city in each
of the 50 states, Hersband and Wife will spend 50 weeks in an RV hosting
ceremonies and receptions for same-sex couples who wish to marry, but are unable
to do so because of state and federal restrictions. While visiting each of the 6
states that currently allow same-sex unions, Hersband and Wife will offer a special
tribute to state and local groups who have made it possible.
As is the case for many GLBT projects, Hersband and Wife have encountered a bit
of hesitation in obtaining corporate sponsorships for the Tour. Times are tough for
everyone but I can assure, it cannot get any worse for us gays – checkbook, empty;
heatlh insurance, non-existent.

Hersband and Wife recognize that equality is unequally distributed in this country. A
drive throughout the entire country will not be easy, especially when hitting Middle
America and the dirty south (no pun intended). It has never been easy to state our
case (no pun intended, again) – we have always been bludgeoned and
threatened. Starting on October 31st, Hersband and Wife will begin documenting
their tour around the country. With or without impediments, the group will stay in-
route and make every stop on their 50 week itinerary.

Hersband and Wife will lead the country into an uproar. I hope. Based in TN, they are
partnered, have children, work, play, pay taxes and have strong opinions. They are
a dynamic duo who is motivated by what they can offer as a strong and proud
couple. Through the success of their online advice column, Hersband and Wife, will
push to highlight the facts in every crevice of the nation – among them, that the
LGBT community has 44 states worth of lobbying to be done before we treated JUST
LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. For the math impaired, that is 88% - higher than most of us have
ever scored on anything.

After 50 weeks, a worn out 40-foot RV, and more fuel than any of us could ever pay
for, Hersband and Wife will have accomplished things some of us can only dream of
– from traveling the 50 states, to exchanging glances with someone who once
contemplated taking their life because of who they wanted to marry, to
celebrating with thousands of men and women who wish nothing more than to be
recognized as human beings. It is not their struggle, but all of ours. Ambitious, yes but priceless just the same. - AMBIENTE