Every Pride Month, we celebrate the rebels, the resisters, and the revolutionaries. The loudest are often thought to be—or have been—the proudest.
But what about the not-so-loud ones? Some—like Jack Baker and Michael McConnell—simply refused to let their love be erased or ignored. Not just same-sex “partners,” but true queer pioneers. Till death do they part.
Back in 1970, when being openly gay could cost you your job, your family, even your life, Jack and Michael applied for a marriage license in Minnesota. Not as a stunt. Not for press. But because they loved each other and believed they had the right to marry.
Radical. Simple. Human.
Their request was denied, so they sued. And found a way to get married anyway.
Jack Baker and Michael McConnell are the first same-sex couple in US history known to have obtained a marriage license and have their marriage solemnized. Originally wed on September 3, 1971, their marriage wasn’t legally recognized…until 2018.
Their case, Baker v. Nelson, made its way to the SCOTUS—decades before Obergefell v. Hodges. While the court ultimately dismissed their case, they didn’t give up.
For over fifty years, they have lived as “husband and husband.”
Much of that time without fanfare, guarantees, or legal protections.
Just their love, their commitment, and their quiet refusal to back down.
Finally, in 2018, a judge confirmed what they had known all along: their marriage was valid. Jack and Michael didn’t just make history. They lived and loved through it.
Through Pride marches and protests, through activism and AIDS, through dark days and dazzling nights—they remained together, married. Proudly if not loudly.
Jack and Michael’s story isn’t just a footnote in LGBTQ history.
It is LGBTQ history. His + His history.
They stood up for love when standing up for love wasn’t safe.
They challenged a system that refused to acknowledge them.
But they never, ever gave up.
And here’s the part that gets me every time: They’re still married today. Still in love. Still showing up for each other—both now well into their 80s.
This Pride, when we chant “Love Is Love,” let’s remember the couples who said it with their lives, long before we said it with hashtags, memes, and parades.
Thank you, Jack and Michael.
For showing us what love looks like.
And for what Pride can accomplish. 🏳️🌈
Love and light to them…and you too, boo!
Clint 🌈✌️
FYC = LGBTQ STORIES + SUBSTACKS
I woke up this morning to discover the delovely and delightful Mr. Troy Ford included me and four fellow queer creators in his latest ”Qstack Readers Select” post.
I’m beyond honored for the love and support. Not to mention the chance to virtually mix and mingle with some favorite (and new-to-me) writers on the platform.
Thank you, MTF…for all that you do, boo!
Clint ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
P.S. For those not familiar with MTF or his work, I encourage you to subscribe to Ford Knows AND Qstack. And to support his debut novel…Lamb: A Novel In Snapshots is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.
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FYC = PAST PRIDE POSTS
ON THIS DAY = JUNE 4
BIRTHDAYS
1866 = Clare Atwood = British artist 🌈
1907 = Rosalind Russell = American actor
1917 = Robert Merrill = American actor and singer
1928 = Ruth Westheimer = German-American sex therapist, talk show host, professor, author, and Holocaust survivor
1932 = John Drew Barrymore = American actor
1936 = Bruce Dern = American actor
1944 = Michelle Phillips = American singer-songwriter and actor
1955 = Val McDermid = Scottish author 🌈
1956 = Keith David = American actor
1969 = Horatio Sanz = Chilean-American actor and comedian
1968 = Scott Wolf = American actor
1971 = Noah Wyle = American actor and producer
1975 = Angelina Jolie = American actor, filmmaker, and humanitarian 🌈
1981 = T.J. Miller = American actor and comedian
1982 = Wu Tsang = American filmmaker, artist and performer 🌈
EVENTS
1783 = The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
1876 = An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in SF via the first transcontinental railroad, only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving NYC.
1919 = The US Congress approves the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women.
1977 = JVC introduces its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It will eventually prevail against Sony's rival Betamax system in a format war to become the predominant home video medium.
1984 = Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If you think you’ve hit a false note, sing loud.
When doubt, sing loud.”
Robert Merrill
Thanks Clint, Robert Merrill, Jack Baker and Michael McConnell
Yeah, do it for your people, do it for your pride🖤🤎💜💙💚💛🧡❤
Are you ever gonna know if you never even try?
Do it for your country, do it for your name
'Cause there's gonna be a day when you're
Standing in the Hall of Fame
And the world's gonna know your name
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame
Here are a couple of poems I wrote for my gay friends:
KINDRED FLAMES
Kindred flames that burn the same
Pepper Miller
May 7
A poem celebrating the beauty of the romantic connection between women. Here’s something soulful and heartfelt:
Kindred Flames
Two hearts aligned in whispered air, A love so fierce, beyond compare. Fingertips tracing paths unknown, In tender touch, their passion grown.
Soft laughter laced in midnight’s spell, A gentle world where love may dwell. No chains to hold, no walls to tame, Just kindred flames that burn the same.
Through every storm and fleeting tide, They walk as one, their souls untied. No need for words, their voices hushed— In love’s embrace, the world is brushed.
UNSHAKEN BOND
New LOVE POEMS
Pepper Miller <peppermiller3011@gmail.com>
Tue, May 6, 9:14 PM
to me
a poem celebrating the deep connection, romance, and commitment between men. Here’s something heartfelt:
Unshaken Bond Two hands entwined, a steady light, Love undaunted, burning bright. Through whispering days and silent nights, A vow upheld, a sacred rite.
Eyes that know the weight of years, Softened by both joy and tears. Each touch a promise, firm and true, No storm can break what they renew.
Should the world avert its gaze, Their hearts remain, unscathed, ablaze. No shame can mar, no doubt erase, A love that stands, a love embraced.