Arlene Rusche (left) and her soon-to-be-wife Clara Brock at a marriage equality rally outside San Jose City Hall.
Arlene Rusche, 73, never expected to live long enough to have the option of legally marrying her partner.
“At my age, you begin to think you’re running out of time,” said the Santa Clara resident. “But then I heard the news and tears of joy just rolled down my face. Lots of tears. Then I turned to her, my partner, and I asked her, ‘Does this mean I can marry you now?’”
Rusche and her newly minted fiancé and partner of 22 years, 86-year-old Clara Brock, celebrated Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down DOMA and Prop. 8 at an evening rally outside San Jose’s City Hall. About 300 people gathered in the downtown plaza, including politicians, community leaders, activists, gay couples who plan to tie the knot and gay couples who married when the California Supreme Court briefly allowed it back in 2008. Celebrants held up signs with messages like, “Keep calm and gay marry” and “Out and about.”
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