For Harris Wofford, same-sex marriage is now personal

Wedding announcements in the newspaper are more of a relic these days, but one made ripples in the press this weekend.

Former Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Harris Wofford, 90, announced in The New York Times that he will marry a man at the end of this month, 20 years after the death of his wife.

The news might surprise some, Wofford noted. His wife, Clare, died of leukemia in January 1996. After he lost her, he said, he never thought he would find love again.

"At age 70, I did not imagine that I would fall in love again and remarry," he wrote at the start of his Times column. "But the past 20 years have made my life a story of two great loves."

Wofford went on to describe the significance of his 48-year marriage and how a new, unlikely romance developed —  he at 75 and his partner-to-be, Matthew Charlton, at 25. In their trips around the country and to Europe, they developed a bond that led to their 15-year relationship.

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The takeaway from Wofford's announcement is not just that he found love again, but also that he found the nation he once served is changing faster than he imagined. As he sees it, it's for the better.

For a long time, I did not suspect that idea and fate might meet in my lifetime to produce same-sex marriage equality. My focus was on other issues facing our nation, especially advancing national service for all. Seeking to change something as deeply ingrained in law and public opinion as the definition of marriage seemed impossible.

I was wrong, and should not have been so pessimistic. I had seen firsthand — working and walking with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — that when the time was right, major change for civil rights came to pass in a single creative decade. It is right to expand our conception of marriage to include all Americans who love each other.

 

The wedding is scheduled for Saturday.