A heartwarming wedding!

＜English＞

translated by kumiko

I recently attended a wonderfully heartwarming lesbian wedding in Tokyo, so I thought I’d share a little bit about the event with you.

Readers already familiar with Japanese online lesbian resources probably already know the very popular lesbian blog “Jojoen”, written with great humor and intelligence by a blogger named Bianca. Well, Bianca was kind enough to invite me to her wedding where she and her very handsome girlfriend of 10 years officially tied the knot! Naturally, I was ecstatic to attend. Congratulations to the happy couple!!!

To tell you the truth, this was the first wedding I had ever attended--except for when I was a child. Personally, I always felt that the convention dictating men and women have to get married at a certain age (in Japan especially) is quite boring. For this reason, I just somehow ended up boycotting acquaintances’ weddings as a kind of policy of mine.

Therefore, it was very significant to me that the first wedding I ever attended was a lesbian wedding. Although same-sex marriage is not recognized by Japanese law, the ceremony was still celebrated as a big event. Many Japanese lesbians and lesbian couples attended, in addition to Bianca’s mother and work colleagues. While weddings aren’t exactly my cup of tea, I was extremely touched by the gathering. I felt like our gathering stood as evidence that, even though the government may not recognize same-sex partnerships yet, there is a world of loving people who will marry anyway--and more and more people who recognize and celebrate those marriages. Seeing this message play out before me was as empowering as listening to a Harvey Milk speech.



※As a wedding gift, I presented the newly married couple with Femme and
Dyke briefs from Rigged OUT/fitters, a popular item on the TW online shop.
Perfect for the happy couple!

※Celebrating the joy of the two loving brides.

At the wedding, I was struck by how absurd it is that two people so in love can be denied the right to exchange vows, even though it hurts no one. Seeing the ceremony was just more convincing than any words.

I was so happy to be able to attend this wedding. And I look forward to seeing many more queer weddings in Japan and hope that one day, in the not too distant future, the government will recognize our unions.

★Read blog "Jojoen" at: http://jyojyoen.seesaa.net (Japanese).