Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement (2009)

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  September 29, 2011

  5oclockcoffee

  
  
  As the years go by, that feeling of attraction stays the same. Each of us, in fact, looks different from how we looked when we met, but if I look to Edie now, she looks exactly the same to me. Exactly the same. And she will say the same thing the other way.
  
  
  Edith ... read more"Edie" Windsor grew up in Philadelphia, got married, moved to Baltimore, split up and took off to NY. Thea Spyer was born in Amsterdan in 1931, moved to England in order to escape from Nazism, immigrated to USA in the beginning of 40´s and moved to NY in 1950. Around 1962, they met at Portofino, a restaurant in the West Village where the lesbians used to go on Friday nights. Two years later, their relationship really began and it lasted forever. Like says the marriage vows, "until death us do depart": after 41 years together, in May 22, 2007, they went to Toronto, Canada, when they officially got married. Two years later, Thea died.
  
  If, as a "piece of art", Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is below regular, as a documentary it is very good. It´also very important to marriage equality and every gay rights movement. If conscious campaigns are really necessary - and I think they are - stories like Edie and Thea´s should be used as a "flag". We can not ask for acceptance, but we have to ask for respect and equality*. Pride Parades don´t speak for me. Lady Gaga and alike, definitely do not speak for me. Instead of using such marketable figures and increase the mass consumer (un)culture, cases of real engagements should be shown in the big media. Unfortunately, they wouldn´t sell.
  How many heterosexual and religious couples can say a word about real love? How many had the strength and guts to love and take care of your partner like Edie did? Thea was diagnosed with advanced multiple sclerosis with 45 years old. With her body slowly deteriorating, she was put in a wheelchair. The couple adapted to new situation with humor and passion.
  
  
  Thea: If you came into this party and you didn´t know me at all and I was sitting there in that wheelchair, what would you do? Edie´s answer was great.
  
  Edie: "Oh shit! I had to fall for the one in the wheelchair".
  
  
  In any moment you doubt the veracity of their relationship or think it may be distorted by the cameras. Their love and caring is visible, almost touchable. There´s a true fondness in every hug, in every kiss, in the way they just look to each other. Luck? Soul mates? Who can say it? The fact is that they were able to build a relationship for a lifetime and that their life story is simply inspiring.
  
  
  Thea: I have the love of my life. I have the love of my life. That´s number one. And I am able to afford huge and modern (ward?) assistance. I have no pain and I have no cognitive deficiency. Put that all together, if you don´t make a life with all those things going for you, I would say that there´s something really very wrong.
  
  Edie: Keep joy as long as you can, ok? And if you have to solve problems, if that involves problems solving, than we do that.
  
  
  
  *"The words 'bride' and 'groom' are not existent in Canada anymore. We have 'spouse' and 'spouse'. Everybody is equal". Harvey Browstone, the first openly gay judge in Canada, who married them.
  **Edie "was a board member of Social Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, also known as SAGE, from 1985 to 1987 and from 2004 to 2006." Today, she is still a gay rights activist.
  
  
  
  
  

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