Mainstream America is embracing marriage equality as an inevitable evolution, as evidenced by the two separate covers from TIME Magazine’s latest edition, which hits newsstands on Friday, Mar. 29.
After the Supreme Court heard arguments on pivotal same-sex marriage cases this week, TIME is releasing two separate covers—”Gay Marriage Already Won.”—each featuring an intimate portrait of a committed gay couple: one male, one female.
In his cover story, TIME’s David Von Drehle reports that recent polls show that same-sex marriage is now embraced by half or more of all Americans, with support among young voters running as high as 4 to 1.
“Yesterday’s impossible now looks like tomorrow’s inevitable,” he writes. “What’s most striking about this seismic social shift—as rapid and unpredictable as any turn in public opinion on record—is that it happened with very little planning. In fact, there was a lot of resistance from the top. Neither political party gave a hint of support before last year, nor was marriage part of the so-called homosexual agenda so worrisome to social—conservative leaders…. Instead, the impetus has come from disparate forces in seemingly unconnected realms: courtrooms, yes, but also hospitals, nurseries, libraries and soundstages. The rise of same-sex marriage from joke to commonplace is a story of converging strands of history.”
Von Drehle is quick to point out that while we’re making big strides toward equality, bigoted behavior isn’t going to become ancient history overnight. “Exit polls in November showed that 83 percent of voters believe that same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide in the next five to 10 years, according to a bipartisan analysis of the data,” writes Von Drehle. “Like a dam that springs a little leak that turns into a trickle and then bursts into a flood, the wall of public opinion is crumbling. That’s not to say we’ve reached the end of shunning, homophobia or anti-gay violence. It does, however, suggest that Americans who are allowed by law to fall in love, share their lives and raise children together will, in the not too distant future, be allowed to get married.”
TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel addresses same-sex marriage and how the covers were chosen this week in his article The Heart of Marriage, “Whatever the Supreme Court decides, it seems clear that the majority of Americans feel marriage is a civil right and that denying that right to people because of their sexual orientation is a violation of equal protection under the law…. We had a long debate in our offices about this week’s cover images of two same-sex couples. Some thought they were sensationalist and too in-your-face. Others felt the images were beautiful and symbolized the love that is at the heart of the idea of marriage. I agree with the latter, and I hope you do, too.”
Award-winning photographer Peter Hapak shot the split-run cover portraits for TIME. Russell Hart and Eric LaBonte are the male couple featured on the cover; they are legal domestic partners living in LA and are engaged. Sarah Kate Ellis-Henderson and Kristen Ellis-Henderson are the female couple; they are legally married in New York state, and have two children.
“As we were driving to the shoot, I thought, ‘I’m doing this because I want my kids to live boldly and loudly and see what it means to stand up for something,’” says Sarah Kate Ellis-Henderson, who has a son and a daughter with her wife Kristen. For Hart, who was out to his family but closeted at work, felt the decision to participate in a TIME cover shoot about gay marriage was “a symbol of his decision to fully own his identity,” writes Kate Pickert of TIME. “That was far more destructive and traumatic than coming out,” says Hart. “The experience let me know that whatever I do, my sexuality is a part of my identity and to deny it is to be doomed.”
