Going the Distance

Their instructions were: Show up 4 o'clock at building 5 and wear black, according to Mike Zimmerman, who was celebrating his nuptials on that day.
'We said 'We're not telling anybody there. We're just going to do it.''

'It's just the most stunning place,' Zimmerman said of the massive building 5 gallery at Mass MoCA, which features an installation created by artist Ann Hamilton.

'The artist made these machines (simulating) the breathing of the human body. There are hundreds of windows covered in silk so the whole room is glowing pink, and with each 'breath' a piece of paper falls out of the ceiling,' Zimmerman said.

'It is an amazing installation,' said Jon Galt, the other half of the newly wedded couple. 'When the justice of the peace asked us where we wanted to get married, we thought, 'This is where we have to do it.' So we paid for our tickets to go in, we paid for the justice of the peace and the other people in the gallery were witness to it. They were all very excited. It was magical.'

Zimmerman is originally from Denver and first met Galt, a Herkimer native, a decade ago while the two were working on a student film at Syracuse University. Settling in the Capital Region, they founded the Empire Film Festival. The have helped showcase independent films around the region for the past nine years. They've also started a health food business. The couple has kept an eye on activities regarding same-sex unions recently.

In 2000, the state of Vermont enacted civil unions, extending state benefits and protections to state residents.

In 2003, a national policy was enacted in Canada, which became the third country to recognize same-sex marriage.

As their relationship headed into its 10th year, Galt and Zimmerman paid particular attention when in May Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

'The first day you could get a license was Monday the 17th,' Galt said. 'On Tuesday, we drove to Williamstown (in Massachusetts) and got registered.' On Friday they were ready to go, after a three-day wait for blood tests.

'We wanted to do it right away and get that license,' Galt said. 'The reason was I knew they wouldn't let it go on for too long. Sure enough, the next week they stopped (marrying) out-of-state people.'

Legally married in Massachusetts, the couple from Saratoga Springs have found a complicated and multi-layered process for equal marriage rights as residents of New York state.

'If we lived in Massachusetts, we would have rights statewide, but we have no rights in New York. Even though we are legally married with a marriage certificate, it's not sanctified in this state,' Galt said.

Debates continue at the state, national and international levels regarding the legalities and rights of same-sex married couples.

'It's going to be state-by-state first, and that's why we wanted to get it right. When that court thing goes through, some states will recognize marriages and certain ones won't. Eventually, it's going to have to go to the Supreme Court, and even if there is a constitutional amendment (to ban same-sex marriages) the Supreme Court will knock it down because it's an equal rights issue,' said Galt, who is familiar with the popular tag that same-sex marriage equality has become the new civil rights movement.

'In a way, I feel that it is (the same),' he said, 'because it does create second-class citizens.'

Marriage rights at stake include family health care coverage, survivor benefits through Social Security, sick leave to care for a partner, and Medicare, to name the more obvious of marriage benefits.

'It's confusing to me because it's not like our getting married takes away from the marriage of someone else,' Zimmerman said of the debate against same-sex unions. 'It doesn't de-sanctify someone else's marriage or affect other people's relationship. This is our relationship that we're trying to have acknowledgement for.'

'I think it's the old guard holding on really tightly to something that is soon going to be a moot point,' Galt said. 'They think somehow if you open up the floodgates by allowing same-sex marriage that you're going to get people marrying dogs, siblings and parents, and that marriage as we know it is going to fall apart.'

'We're good people, and we have a good relationship. We own this business, and we own two houses in Saratoga and one in Ballston Spa. We are as normal as you can be,' said Galt.

He relates a story told him by the justice of the peace on his wedding day.

'She told us that the day before, she married two guys that had been together 45 years. It's crazy someone has to wait 45 years so somebody could finally say 'You have a valid relationship.' Meanwhile Britney Spears can go to Las Vegas, marry some guy for 15 minutes and - at that moment - she has all those rights, every single right, you know. And then she gets it annulled. People take marriage so lightly, and they take divorce so lightly and that doesn't happen with couples like Michael and I because it's a right that we haven't had - and still don't really have federally.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
The Saratogian, 2004