Photo from Sarah McBride’s story on Medium
Writing on Medium, Sarah McBride writes movingly about the grief and joy she experienced in her brief marriage to her partner Andy, who died shortly after they were married in a ceremony officiated by their friend and colleague, The Right Reverend Gene Robinson.
McBride became well-known after coming out publicly as a transgender woman while she was the student body president at American University. She met her future husband at a White House event honoring the LGBT community, and the two quickly entered into a close partnership, even working side-by-side as professional colleagues at the Center for American Progress.
The couple loosely planned to marry, but McBride notes that they felt no urgency until they learned that Andy had a form of cancer that was going to be ‘life-shortening’ according to his doctors.
From the essay:
After several tests and a short hospital stay, the news came back like a punch in the gut: Andy’s cancer had returned and had spread to the lungs.
It was in the 24 hours after this news that Andy asked me, “If it turns out that this is incurable, would you marry me?” Of course the answer was yes. Andy had always wanted to get married, but prior to this new diagnosis, there was never any rush. He was only 28 and I was just out of college.
McBride explores grief, marriage, love, and death through her long-form essay, which you can read in its entirety as part of The Lighthouse collection, which features stories about connections and communities.