If you'd asked HIV/AIDS activist Justin Smith a few years ago if he'd ever imagined that he'd one day get married his response would have probably been a very confident no. Well that all changed last week as Smith and his partner of over three years Dr. Phillip B. Terry legally wed on a beautiful beach in Massachusetts.
Many of you may be familiar with Smith from his popular YouTube channel chronicling his life as a person living with HIV or from the numerous times his courageous activism has been featured on this blog. In a post on his blog he explains beautifully how his husband changed his life and convinced him to love again.
"I have truly found someone that loves me unconditionally. Through all my trial and tribulations he has been there to help me through the rough waters we call life. Philip asked me to marry him on Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend of 2009. When he asked I didn’t know what to say, so I looked inside my heart and opened my mouth and joyously said, “Yes”.
Ever since then we’ve had disagreements like most couples but it never took away from the love that I have and will always have for him. This man has breathed life into me, my heart, my soul and my mind. When I didn’t want to be loved; he opened my heart, when I didn’t want to have a spiritual awakening; he opened my soul and when I didn’t want to go to school; he opened my mind, when I didn’t want to love."
The happy couple will reside in the D.C. area where their marriage will be fully recognized after the D.C. City Council voted earlier this year to recognize marriages in the district performed elsewhere.
Congratulations Justin & Phillip! You're a beautiful example that marriage equality isn't just important or reserved for a specific group of people and if desired it's truly attainable.
View Justin & Phillip's wedding video below:
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