Celia Cohen Hits It Out of the Park

As you know, we like to make fun of Celia Cohen because of her duPont-Castle ties, the establishment GOP conventional wisdom that permeates her posts, and because of a sometimes florid writing style that makes you want to gouge your eyes out, like this:

There was one great truism in Delaware politics for decade upon decade. The state Senate was Democratic. The state House of Representatives was Republican. It felt almost like a commandment. Remember the state Senate, to keep it Democratic. Thou shalt have no other majority but Republican in the state House.

But today I will praise her. Her latest, Pursuit of Happiness, is a wonderful piece that everyone should read. It is an account of Delaware’s first civil union ceremony, performed yesterday at Trinity Episcopal Church, between Lisa Goodman and Drew Fennell. Here are some passages:

Like the words of the Emancipation Proclamation, like the 19th Amendment recognizing that women have the right to vote, what always should have been finally came to be in Delaware on New Year’s Day in a century-old stone church.

Drew Fennell and Lisa Goodman, long partners in life, became partners in law.

There were dead-enders who had vowed it would have to be a Spring day in January before civil unions were allowed, and guess what? It was. The heavens were beaming.

Fennell and Goodman, both lawyers, came to this day as the pathfinders for gay rights here.

She goes on to provide a wonderful account of the ceremony:

When the question was asked of the congregation, “Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in the covenant of holy union,” people shouted, “We will!”

When the vows were done, the rings given and the words pronounced, “Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder,” the place was transported in a jubilant jumble of cries of amen, cheers, applause and a standing ovation. Joy.

To the joining of true minds and hearts, there would no longer be admitted impediments.

She then concluded by quoting the Declaration of Independence’s covenant that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all are created equal, and that among the unalienable rights granted to all of us by our Creator is the pursuit of happiness, and then asking…

If a union before God and the state is not the pursuit of happiness, what is?

Indeed. Well done, Celia.