A chance encounter in a Colorado coffee shop drive-thru line and a quick conversation at a grocery store.
Cadiz native Eva Watkins thought that was the last she’d see of Destinie Northup.
She remembers falling head over heels for Northup’s smile – which she describes as “full of light and life.” So it was hard for Watkins to ignore that smile – and Destinie – looking her right in the face when she spotted Northup on an online dating app months later.
Watkins had moved home, but the pair reconnected when Destinie shared a meme about Forrest Gump, the 1994 film that follows Tom Hanks’ titular character as he bumbles his way through contemporary American history, runs across the country, falls in love and changes the world through his own chance encounters.
Watkins and Northup kept things long-distance until May of 2023, when Eva flew to Colorado. Destinie was waiting when she landed, and the two shared their first kiss. A month later, Northup relocated to Kentucky to be with Watkins.
“I’m just kind of speechless, but in the best of ways,” Watkins said. “Everyone talks about waiting for marriage, and stuff like that, waiting for their wedding day, but I’ve been waiting to marry this person … and I’ve finally found them. It’s kind of surreal.”
A month later, Destinie moved to Kentucky to live with Eva, and the two currently live together in Cadiz. The couple decided they wanted to marry in October of last year, but they delayed making official plans due the financial investment required for a wedding.
Those talks got more intense in November, after Donald Trump won a second term as U.S. president.
“I do want to spend the rest of my life with this person and also want to make sure that we are protected,” Watkins said.
The concerns weren’t theirs alone. Online news outlet Vox reported last month that many LGBTQ+ couples fast-tracked their own wedding plans after Trump’s reelection, citing fears that rights for members of the community could be restricted during his second term.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights released a statement in November – a week after the election – detailing how, through currently upheld court rulings and recent legislative action like the Respect for Marriage act, same-sex marriage rights are unlikely to be taken away anytime soon. However, that hasn’t stopped concerns about potential actions being taken to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ people.
To ensure that their marriage was protected, the couple got married this weekend as part of a free community event put on by Murray KY Pride, an organization dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in the small Western Kentucky community.
“When I found out about [LOVE IS] on Facebook, I was just astonished and really proud of my small southern community for banding together and putting on an event like this without fear,” Watkins said.
Murray KY Pride president Charlie Hinkee said that that’s exactly why she wanted to spearhead the LOVE IS event.
“The election … really made me grieve, because it makes me fear for the [LGBTQ+] community and for the time moving forward,” Hinkee said. “I thought of having a mass wedding event for the community to make sure that, even if our rights get taken away, we’re still saying, ‘We’re here.’”
The event marks Hinkee’s first as the President of Murray KY Pride. She said the community’s support and interest in the event has been an encouraging start to her new position.
Four couples participated in Murray KY Pride’s LOVE IS weddings Saturday, with each couple able to bring along their own wedding party and guests to witness the ceremony.
“This event is special because it gives me a chance as a queer individual in Murray to take a stand,” Hinkee said. “It’s a very special moment in that sense for the community, I think it says that we’re here again, that you have a safe space and that you have people looking out for you.”
Hinkee officiated the ceremony at the Murray Convention & Visitors Bureau with the couple surrounded by friends and family and other loved ones watching along via a Facebook livestream. The two exchanged rings before tying a ceremonial cord around their wrists – meant to symbolize “the red thread” spoken of in a Chinese proverb that ties together people whose fates are intertwined.
After that, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd as the two shared their first kiss as a married couple.
After the ceremony, the couple spent time mingling with their guests before making their way to a celebratory dinner.
To Northup, their marriage feels like the prologue to their rest of their lives together and said there is little else that can compare to the joy of being newlyweds.
“I can only imagine my life with her in it, and to be lucky enough to call her my person and get old and wrinkly,” Northup said. “Getting to marry my soulmate is truly the best feeling in the world, like the equivalent of breakfast for dinner.”
This story is republished with permission from WKMS. Read the original.
