As the California Supreme Court deliberates the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, Americans are once again confronted with this controversial issue. Debates on legalizing same-sex marriage often overlook two important issues.
First, there is a long, albeit hidden, history of gay marriages throughout the United States. As an American historian researching early 20th century same-sex marriages, I have uncovered numerous examples of legal unions between gays and lesbians in California and in other states.
On June 21, 1941, teacher Thelma Walter and farmer David Warren obtained a marriage license in Sonoma. Eight days later, the Reverend Leighton Nugent married them at Trinity Church in San Francisco. The husband and wife lived together happily, raising chickens, rabbits, and chinchillas on their 10-acre farm east of Sonoma. Their domestic bliss was interrupted when the FBI began investigating why Warren failed to register for the draft. The couple was arrested when the FBI learned that Warren was anatomically a woman, born Marieta Cook.
In 1947, there were no laws against same-sex marriage, so Sonoma County District Attorney Charles McGoldrick was unsure of whether the couple could be charged with a crime. In a November 28, 1947 newspaper article, "Two Girls Who Wed Must Face Court Today," Warren/Cook describes the decision to marry Walter, after a seven-year courtship that began when they were co-eds at the University of California: "We couldn't figure out any other way to live. ... Under our code, we decided that marriage was the only course. We considered living together without being married very improper." Due in part to the newspaper coverage of the marriage, Walter lost her teaching post at Sonoma Valley Union High School. After a San Francisco psychologist interviewed the couple, he recommended to the DA that all charges against Walker and Warren be dropped because no laws had been broken. Their marriage license was never voided by the court and is still on file at the Sonoma County Courthouse.
The marriage between Thelma Walter and David Warren shows that in California, people of the same anatomical gender sometimes obtained legal marriage licenses and wed in churches as husband and wife. Newspaper articles from the 1930s and 1940s describe how many same-sex couples officially married and lived for years as wedded spouses, avoiding discovery until their deaths.
For example, in a March 6, 1940 article, "Widow, Wed Thrice in 50 Years, a Man," the San Francisco Chronicle relates the story of 71-year-old Adelle Best, who was found to be an anatomical male on her San Mateo hospital deathbed. Neighbor Mrs. Righetti describes meeting Mrs. Adelle Best 28 years ago, when she and her third husband, Albert Best, were living on a ranch in the Berryessa District of San Jose. According to Righetti, Mrs. Best was always an "excellent cook and housekeeper." A May 6, 1940 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel notes that Adelle and Albert Best went through a formal marriage ceremony. Authorities never investigated any of Mrs. Best's marriages for the purpose of legally invalidating them.
On some occasions, Bay Area couples who shared the same anatomical gender married in Nevada. In an October 9, 1941 article, "Female Husband of Girl Held," the San Francisco Examiner relates how Los Gatos native and professional truck driver Frances Orlando posed as a man and married Sacramento-resident Elizabeth Nunes in Nevada. Despite the public scandal of their wedding, their marriage was never legally contested. Their license is still on file in that state.
In addition to overlooking the hidden history of early 20th century same-sex marriages, debates around gay marriage fail to interrogate how the state intends to define gender. If California intends to limit marriages exclusively to unions between a man and a woman, the state needs to clarify what, exactly, this means. There are five competing ways of defining gender: chromosomal, anatomical, hormonal, psychological, and cultural. What happens when an individual is male in some of these areas and female in others? For example, there are several chromosomal genders, including XX, XY, XXY, XXXY, XXXYY, and XO. Intersex individuals also have intermediate anatomical, hormonal, and psychological genders. Does the California Supreme Court intend to bar chromosomally or anatomically intersexed people from being able to marry anyone? Other people are chromosomally XY, but develop into anatomical women if they lack testosterone receptors. How does the state intend to define their genders? Whom can they legally marry?
Perhaps by considering the true complexity of these issues and the hidden history of gay marriages in the United States, the California Supreme Court will realize the necessity of honoring the human rights of all Americans by acknowledging the constitutionality of same-sex marriages.
Nicoletta Karam is a historian with a doctorate in American history from Brandeis University. Her research interests include gender theory and its challenge to historians accustomed to operating within binary frameworks.