Former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford made a big announcement over the weekend.
20 years after his wife of 48 years, Clare, succumbed to acute leukemia, the 90-year-old former top adviser to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. is getting remarried… to a man… 50 years his junior.
“Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall–straight, gay or in between,” Wofford writes in a powerful op-ed in the New York Times. “I don’t categorize myself based on the gender of those I love. I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness.”
Wofford met his new partner, Matthew, on a beach in Fort Lauderdale five years after Clare’s passing.
“It was afternoon,” he recalls. “I swam alone in the water, attracting the attention of two bystanders near the shore. They came over to say hello, which is how I met Matthew Charlton.”
He continues: “As we talked, I was struck by Matthew’s inquisitive and thoughtful manner and his charm. I knew he was somebody I would enjoy getting to know. We were decades apart in age with far different professional interests, yet we clicked.”
What started as a friendship quickly turned to love.
“We both felt the immediate spark, and as time went on, we realized that our bond had grown into love,” Wofford writes. “To some, our bond is entirely natural, to others it comes as a strange surprise, but most soon see the strength of our feelings and our devotion to each other. We have now been together for 15 years.”
And now they’re getting married.
“At age 90, I am lucky to be in an era where the Supreme Court has strengthened what President Obama calls ‘the dignity of marriage’ by recognizing that matrimony is not based on anyone’s sexual nature, choices or dreams,” Wofford says. “It is based on love.”
He and Charlton plan to exchange vows on April 30.
“We will join hands, vowing to be bound together,” Wofford concludes. “To have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.”
Seriously… this is TRUEEEEEE……… LOVE. But can never happen between two Nigerians!!! True or False?
Lol
Who said so???? True love could be found everywhere but the truth is, are you ready to go through the hurdles?
It’s possible when two like minds put it to work. It takes two to tango. It’s easier when you meet that one who wants to walk the same path with you. Not a joker who sees this as a “game”
?
Word! @Di-navy. We Nigerian gay men are just too lazy and self centred and internally homophobic and not giving enough to know true love. Oftentimes it’s not the society denying us love. It’s us denying ourselves love
Until death do them part doesn’t seem much further away #justsaying
You said it all Mandy. We are the whole genesis of our problems, we see two lovey doves and we always wish we had what they have meanwhile we are not ready m,mentally and emotionally.
True love has to do with so much discipline and many of us are not ready to walk through that part. There’s loads of work to be put into it to make it flourish. It’s easier when you meet that one person who shares the same view with you on love. With chemistry and compatibility, you both will become invincible. Trust me, I learnt from the bestest. *sips my lemonade*
My thoughts exactly. *flees*
Chai! Someone is making Di-Navy all sorts of yori-yori things in his heart
I’d rather they come in my 30s than my 90s biko.
Major claustrophobia.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You play too much PP.
Is this who I think it is?
I will have death on speed dail✍?
Lol. I doubt it’s necessary though. *filing my nails*
Awwww… I knew it! So that was Mister Chizzie we saw the other day. 😀
The one that I saw you with, was that Mr PP?
Nigerian Tops!!!
Have dated a Top from another African country to denote such?!
LMAO!
Heheheheee. Naw.
Hmm…lemme not talk
Lmaooooooo!!!!
If it lived but a few weeks,it has yet lived
At thirty, I haf reach menopause. Biko, as I dey my 20s, make e quick find me
““We will join hands, vowing to be bound together,” Wofford concludes. “To have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.”
Awwwwww.
His author biography will make a best seller.
15 years courtship and just getting married now that’s he’s 90 years? Holly Moses…
Wishing them all the best…..☺
I wish them all the best.
I read this on Twitter and I was nearly moved to tears.
Happy endings are possible Dennis, now matter how and when they come.
“Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall–straight, gay or in between,”
And expect them to live up to such confined labels.
“…until death do us part.”
Umm…o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-okay!
Love always wins! With that i comfort my dear self..
OMG!!! This is so surreal!! I read the op-ed (Link in the article), am still trying to wrap my head around a 25-year old, who’s still in the prime years of his awesomeness can fall in love with not a 40 or even a 50year old, but a 70-year old, and stay with him for the next 15years!!! wow! just wow!! to all those who doubt that love can exist between two men, here’s your answer!! this is such a heartwarming story, but I have some questions, did he realise that he was attracted to men during the 48years he was married to a woman – he got married at the very tender age of 22! This story has taught me a lot of new things …
@DI-Navy, are you not being a tad unfair on Nigerian gay men.
You must remember, the societal and legal environment Wofford grew up in was similar to what it is now in Nigeria. He could have been on the DL while married to his wife.
The law and society was not on his gay side then.
I am not condoning the way you think Nigerian gay men behave (& i am ignoring your generalisation), just maybe think for a minute the reason for our behaviour.
My kind of relationship, although it will be more of his material things and them been willed to me when I throw him off the balcony. I sure won’t wear black to his funeral!
Those saying and implying that Nigerian men have commitment issues, and issues in general are spot on!.
If you by chance happen to be with a non-Nigerian homosexual, you’ll see the difference is glaring..
I hope I eventually marry the current love of my life and have beautiful biracial babies, cause at this point I don’t ever want to go back to rubbish Nigerian tops ever again ??
Hahahah kukere!!! This one na war o… Old man at 90… Smh!!! That’s love. And I wish them happy marriage in advance
All the best, people