By William “Bill” Francis Wilson–
If Fernando Proietti Orlandi and I were to mark every milestone in our relationship, we would have a celebration practically every day! We say that we’ve been married as many times as Elizabeth Taylor, just always to the same person.
We became determined to take advantage of every opportunity to legalize our relationship due to a decision by a New York judge that negated a gay man’s claim to his partner’s estate because the judge said they could have registered as domestic partners if they wanted to have their relationship legally recognized. We vowed never to allow anyone the opportunity to make the same judgement about us. We took advantage of every opportunity to register our relationship.
Our paper trail starts in San Francisco on St. Valentine’s Day in 1991, when Domestic Partners were first recognized, winds through various stages of Domestic Partnerships as recognized by Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and the State of California, and becomes actual marriage in 2004 (later declared null and void by the California Supreme Court)—along with our still legal and binding marriage in 2008. The trail doesn’t stop there. It continues across the Atlantic to Rome, Italy, where our marriage has been recognized as a civil union by both the city of Rome and the Italian state.
Interestingly enough, our paper trail includes two documents signed by Gavin Newsom. In 1999, then District 2 Supervisor Gavin Newsom presided over our Domestic Partner ceremony as part of the larger celebration hosted by Mayor Willie Brown and Board President Tom Ammiano.
As Mayor, Gavin Newsom presided over our wedding ceremony on June 17, 2008. So, we have both a Domestic Partnership Certificate and a marriage license signed by Gavin Newsom.
When Ignazio Marino was campaigning to become the mayor of Rome, he made a campaign stop at a shopping center near where my husband’s parents lived. Fernando was able to ask him about civil unions. “It’s in the book,” he replied, meaning it was part of his platform. When he became mayor, he followed through and set up a registry for same sex couples. We happened to be in Rome during the time one of the ceremonies was open, but we were told the 20 slots were already filled and we would have to wait because there were already over two hundred people on the waiting list. Fernando tried to reason with the clerk and explain that we weren’t full time residents of Rome. No amount of pleading moved her.
A few days later I found myself standing next to Mayor Marino at a press conference for The Race for the Cure. I asked him if there was any possibility we might be invited to the ceremony. He asked for my information (which I had already printed out!) and said he would look into it. That was a Saturday and the ceremony was scheduled for Thursday. I was hopeful and excited; Fernando told me not to get my hopes up.
On Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the same clerk who had denied us who informed us that there had been a cancellation and there would be room for us at the ceremony.
You might think that the whole thing could become stale having been repeated in so many places and so many ways, but the truth is it never gets old or loses any emotional impact for me. Even as I write these words, I can feel tears welling in my eyes and that lump gathering in my throat. I never allowed myself to think that I would be able to find someone to love me, but I did.
William “Bill” Francis Wilson is a photographer who documents events and the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights(https://billwilsonphotos.com/). After 22 years of being together as a couple, he and Fernando Proietti Orlandi married on June 17, 2008, after their first marriage in 2004 had been declared null and void by the California Supreme Court. A video of the ceremony performed by Mayor Gavin Newsom is available at Wilson’s website.
10 Years of Marriage Equality
Published on June 26, 2025
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