Getting mad for “Limited Partnership”
Written by Alexander Cheves
“Limited Partnership” is a 2014 documentary about one of the first same-sex couples to apply for marriage in the United States. The year was 1975, and the marriage application was a desperate attempt made by two men, Richard Adams and Tony Sullivan, who were determined to stay together even though one of them, Tony, was a citizen of Australia.
Nothing in Colorado’s constitution said anything against two men marrying, so the couple received one of the first same-sex marriage licenses issued in the country. But when they applied for Tony’s green card, they received a denial letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service stating, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.”
There was an audible gasp across the dark theatre. I squirmed in my seat, rage building in my throat, when that printed word filled the screen. My instinctive response to it is the accumulation of years of understanding that, no matter how many gay clubs and parties I attend, I am still part of a punished minority. “Faggot” is not just offensive because it’s naughty word. It’s offensive because men have been beaten to death with that word ringing in their ears.
Tony and Richard were furious, too. Even director Thomas Miller’s outrage was palpable. And so we leaned forward in our seats, waiting for the response. Tony and Richard sued the U.S. government, filing the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for same-sex couples in the United States.
It’s stated many times in the film and I’ll state it again here: had they been a heterosexual couple, they could have simply gotten married and there would have been no question of Tony’s ability to stay in the country. According to lawmakers, the only crime they committed is the fact that they were two men. Such a simple ideological debate — the definition of marriage — is one that has raged in this country for years, and although we may see it and dismiss it on news broadcasts and in headlines, we cannot forget that it affects people on a personal, private level. When men in suits argue in official buildings that marriage is a male-and-female concept, it means that two people in love risk being parted forever.
I’m grateful that the Savannah Film Festival began with this documentary, setting the tone Sunday for other LGBT-focused films that played throughout the day, including Ben Steele’s “Hunted: The War Against Gays in Russia” and Ryan Murphy’s “The Normal Heart.”
In the end, “Limited Partnership” reminds us that love is not a government institution and will survive even when a lot of angry people say it won’t. Cuddling on the sofa, Richard and Tony watch on the news as the country changes, and we watch with them. I was there too, on the edge of my seat, in 2013 when DOMA was repealed. Their initial campaign for equal treatment so many years ago led to the freedoms I enjoy today. “Partnership” is a rousing testament to that fight.
