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Affidavits
Profiles
Jane
Hamilton was born and raised in Ontario
and later lived in St. Louis, Phoenix, NYC,
Cochrane AL, Castlegar, BC and on Saltspring
Island BC before settling permanently in
Vancouver. She has two daughters, Sarah
and Meghann, now 25 and 22. Hamilton, writing
as JA Hamilton or Jane Eaton Hamilton, is
the award-winning author of six books, whose
stories and articles have been published
widely in such periodicals as Maclean's,
Seventeen, The New York Times, Fine Gardening
and Canadian Gardening.
Joy Masuhara was born and raised in
Vancouver. She is a family physician who
specializes in community mental health work.
She is an administrator at the Mid-Main
Community Health Centre and also works as
a school physician at two East Vancouver
high schools. She is a clinical assistant
professor with the Faculty of Medicine,
UBC. Joy is a breast cancer survivor and
paddles with the dragon boat team, Abreast
in a Boat. Joy and Jane have been together
for nine years. Joy adopted Jane's biological
children in 1997.
Sarah
Hamilton was born in Cochrane,
AB. She teaches English in a small Japanese
village.
Meghann
Hamilton was born in Vancouver,
BC. She works at a local restaurant and
wants to be a police officer.
Excerpt
from Jane's affidavit:
Adoption could not give us all that I want
and have a right to enjoy. I also want to
be married. I want society to witness our
covenant and understand that ours is a vital,
entrenched union. If we win the right to
marry, we will still be marginalized in
public opinion, but eventually the legislation
will trickle down and have a salutary effect.
I get hurt when heterosexuals friends get
married after knowing each other six months
or a year or two years. Joy and I have been
partners for eight years - how long do we
have to wait?
Excerpt from Joy's affidavit:
I do not consider myself an activist. I
try to live my life honestly and openly
and with compassion for others. If by knowing
me as a woman, an Asian, a lesbian, people
can become more accepting of others' differences,
this is a good thing. I sense that homophobia
lingers amongst my family and friends, mostly
in subtle ways. I wonder if in being able
to marry we would gain more acceptance from
others. I want to marry Jane. We have shared
the last eight years. We have watched our
kids go from gangly adolescents to beautiful
young adults. We love passionately, respectfully,
joyfully. I want to translate this into
marriage for all the world to see.
Joy
Masuhara photo Jane Eaton Hamilton, Bali,
2004
Excerpt
from Sarah's affidavit:
By
the fifth grade my queer family had become
an unmentionable. My besfriend and I spent
every day together for three years before
we "came out" that both our mothers
were gay. It had always been understood,
but to speak it made it the potential property
of schoolyard taunts. How can marriage be
sacred when it doesn't even sanctify my
own family?
Sarah, 2004, photo by Jane Eaton Hamilton
Excerpt
from Meg's affidavit:
My mothers want to get married and I don't
think there's any reason why they shouldn't.
They love each other. Them getting married
makes no difference to me; any difference
already happened when Joy adopted me. It's
like they've been married for the last seven
years anyway.
Meghann,
2004, photo by Jane Eaton Hamilton
The
family:
clockwise
from top left: Meghann, Sarah, Jane, Joy
summer 2003
photo,
Lori Miles
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