[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/give-up-the-gospel\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/give-up-the-gospel\/","headline":"Give Up the Gospel","name":"Give Up the Gospel","description":"Give Up the GospelConsider nontraditional wedding readings for your weddingBy Meghan Russell Ceremony readings for same-sex weddings don\u2019t need to be biblical. Sit down with...","datePublished":"2010-05-15","dateModified":"2021-06-21","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/#Person","name":"Equally Wed","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/","identifier":787,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Equally Wed","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","url":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","width":218,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gay-wedding-readings-books.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gay-wedding-readings-books.jpg","height":362,"width":311},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/give-up-the-gospel\/","about":["Ceremonies & Traditions"],"wordCount":628,"articleBody":" Give Up the GospelConsider nontraditional wedding readings for your weddingBy Meghan RussellCeremony readings for same-sex weddings don\u2019t need to be biblical. Sit down with your fianc\u00e9, and create a list of books, songs, poems, plays and movies that you both feel emulate your love and commitment. Be creative\u2014your only limit is your imagination. Here are some ideas, neutral to sexual orientation, to get you brainstorming what might fit best with your wedding:From \u201cGoodridge v. Department of Health,\u201d by Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall:Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations. … Without question, civil marriage enhances the \u201cwelfare of the community.\u201d  It is a \u201csocial institution of the highest importance.\u201d … Marriage also bestows enormous private and social advantages on those who choose to marry. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. … Because it fulfils yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous acts of self-definition. \u00a0Ancient lesbian poet Sappho\u2019s fragment 48, from Page duBois\u2019 Sappho is Burning:You came, and I was longing for you; you cooled my heart which was burning with desire.Emily Dickinson love poems found in The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, published by Barnes & Noble:I have no life but this,To lead it here;Nor any death, but lestDispelled from there; Nor tie to earths to come,Nor action new,Except through this extent,The realm of you. —Love is anterior to life,Posterior to death,Initial of creation, andThe exponent of breath.An excerpt from \u201cWe Two\u2014How Long We Were Fool\u2019d,\u201d by Walt Whitman, believed to be homosexual or bisexual:\u2026We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;  We are\u2026two resplendent suns \u2014 we it is who balance  ourselves, orbic and stellar \u2014 we are as two  comets\u2026  We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving  overhead;  We are seas mingling \u2014 we are two of those cheerful  waves, rolling over each other, and interwetting  each other;  We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive,  pervious, impervious:  We are snow, rain, cold, darkness \u2014 we are each product  and influence of the globe;  We have circled and circled till we have arrived home  again \u2014 we two have;  We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own  joy.A very sweet excerpt from \u201cI\u2019ll Cover You,\u201d from Rent:\u2026Just slip me on, I’ll be your blanket, Wherever, whatever, I’ll be your coat. You’ll be my King, and I’ll be your castle No, you’ll be my Queen, and I’ll be your moat I think they meant it when they said you can’t buy love Now I know you can rent it  A new lease you are my love, on life  All my life. I’ve longed to discover  Something as true as this is. So with a thousand sweet kisses, I’ll cover you\u2026A passage from Luce\u2019s monologue in the classic lesbian romantic comedy Imagine Me and You:I think you know immediately. As soon as your eyes… Then everything that happens from then on just proves that you have been right in that first moment. When you suddenly realize that you were incomplete and now you are whole…"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Give Up the Gospel","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/give-up-the-gospel\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]