The below quotes are from an article by Lawrence Andrea and Kelly Meyerhofer in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [MJS] on December 13. The complete article is considerably longer and may be accessed without a subscription here.
“A Whitewater couple and their two children stood at the front of a crowd of thousands on the White House South Lawn on Tuesday afternoon as President Joe Biden signed into federal law landmark legislation codifying same-sex and interracial marriage protections.
Robin Fox, Kim Simes and their daughters were among the president and First Lady Jill Biden’s special guests for an elaborate ceremony in which the president signed the Respect for Marriage Act — a bill the two women say gives their family security.
“I think I wasn’t really emotionally prepared for what it would be like,” Fox told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the bill was signed, noting the new law protects both their marriage and the rights of their adopted children to marry who they want in the future.
“It’s like a mix of just sheer and complete joy and a whole lot of anger that we even had to get to this point.” ……
Fox and Simes, a couple for 25 years, were invited to the ceremony because of Simes’ role as chief of staff for Family Equality, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ families. Fox, meanwhile, has spent 32 years working a variety of positions at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Last spring, Fox was tapped to be interim provost, an administrative position that is second only to the chancellor…….
The new law requires states to recognize marriages that are considered valid in the state where they were performed….It also grants protections for interracial couples, an important safeguard that Fox said shouldn’t be overlooked.
The couple’s adopted daughters, Brennan, 18, and Sanibel, 14, are of a different race than Fox and her wife.
Both Fox and Simes are UW-Whitewater alumni. They met on campus when Simes was a graduate student and Fox was director of the university’s children’s center. Their oldest daughter is now studying political science there.
This is just as hands-on as it gets,” Brennan said after the bill was signed into law.
Though the family’s trip to Washington was last minute — the White House invitation for Tuesday’s event came Sunday — they were quick to accept.
“I’m thrilled to be here,” Fox said. “We were very quick to say yes and drop everything we have going on. It’s important for us to be here and for our children to be here to watch this happen.”
