"A True Love Story..."

Humberto Niebla & Rafael Vasquez, Arizona

This story is from early 2014 when the ACLU sponsored a Marriage Equality contest in the run up to the Supreme Court's historic marriage equality ruling in June 2015

RV: We were at a party and we didn't know each other but we met on Myspace. After a while, we said "let's go eat sushi." He'd never had sushi, and I'm like, "I'll take you to this nice sushi place I know of." So, we order, like, $100 worth of sushi that day, and afterwards, we just went back to my place, we watched Devil Wears Prada. I think that night really got me to fall in love with him—like, love at first site. His heart was beating super loud.

HN: I was so nervous.

RV: We were at dinner. You could hear his heartbeat. That's how loud. It was just incredible how loud his heart was beating. And we just started hanging out every day, and then I was waiting for him to make it official. I'm the more nurturing one. I wanted him to ask me out and to propose. He finally made it official a year later. We've now been together for now, it's gonna be six years, on July 23.

What's a hurdle you've faced in your relationship?

HN: I was born in Mexico. I moved here when I was three, so I never got that residency. I just got my work permit two years ago and I've been able to work legally in the states. That's my biggest hurdle, the fact that I can't get a driver's license or a state ID.

RV: In-state tuition.

HN: In-state tuition. I can't go to school because it's—

RV&HN: super expensive.

HN: Yeah. That's one of our biggest hurdles. I think, even with all that negativity, and all those hurdles, we still just make it work and try to make the best of it.

RV: It really hurts me seeing him struggle. He only started working a year and a half ago, and he's always been wanting to work. He just can't. He's not what [some would call] a US citizen. Thankfully, [because of certain legislation from] President Obama and he's able to work. We're just hoping for the best for the future.

Why did you enter the "My Big Gay (Il)legal Wedding" contest?

HN: Our friend actually told us about it. We thought it would be a great opportunity to take the next step and actually--

HN&RV: Get married, yeah.

HN: We've always talked about it, so what better way to do it than with the ACLU and in this contest? And, not just get married, but bring awareness to marriage equality to the whole country.

HN&RV: Especially in Arizona.

RV: Arizona has gotten a little bit of negativity in the last few months, and just prove that there is a lot of the LGBT community that want somebody's back, they don't want just to ignore Arizona just because of negativity, they want positivity for other people who---I mean, it's not their fault. They still should be treated equally and should recognize or love, not matter who they love.

HN: AZ gets such a bad rep, that I think with this, it'll bring more positivity to the state.

How will you spend the $5,000?

RV: Other than cover the costs of the wedding, I think, for me, the one thing that I'm gonna do immediately is file for documents for him. Right away, because it's federal, we'll be able to get him his residency, his driver's license; he'll be treated like a normal US citizen. It's going to just completely change his life because of college, driving, the smallest little details.

HN: On top of that, we're obviously going to go shopping [laughs].

RV: We want really nice suits for our wedding.

Finish the sentence, "the whole country needs marriage equality because…"

HN: Love is love.

RV: It doesn't matter who you love. Our love is the same as everyone else's.