For the record though, it was an amazing day and I'm glad for the privilege and blessing to have been a part of it.

Today was the panel discussion that I helped organize that was intended to follow the ceremony: "The Honeymoon's Over - What's Next?"  The goal of the discussion was a practical look at gay relationships and the specific concerns they encounter.  Discussion topics included the local history of the gay community, Penn State's evolving domestic partnership benefits, the reality and expectations GLBT people have with being out in work and the community, and struggles and abuse within same-sex relationships and the challenges they produces.

One line of conversation that I found particularly interesting was the idea of "scripts" that have been established within heterosexual marriage that allow people to relate to those who have gone before them when approaching a particular scenario - within the GLBT community a lot of those examples haven't been established and couples (and individuals) are left to write their own story.  It can be both an adventure and a risk as we find success and failure navigating uncharted territory... and it's something that's easily taken for granted.

I was also really pleased with the focus on how we can help educate the community on issues of diversity - particularly in finding the language to discuss change and tell stories.  It's not just issues of GLBT people that pose a challenge but even topics such as disabilities and loss... people just don't know how to talk about these things and despite good intentions conversations will be left unsaid and divisions and misunderstanding will increase.  We didn't arrive at a solution but the raised awareness is a good start.  It's going to take time and patience... and someone willing to get uncomfortable... before we'll see the change we need - but I'm optimistic.