Lost Donahue show; Phil Donahue presents the 1st Gay wedding on US television, Circa 1990 

I remember when this first aired. I probably taped it. When I first watched this episode, I had been out for 7 years. I had no idea that in October of 1990, I’d be looking around Tiffany, killing time. A man tapped me on the shoulder to introduce himself. When I looked into his eyes, I thought, somebody was playing games with me. We talked a bit, then he asked if I’d like to join him for a drink. I agreed, we had a nice evening. He called 4 days later inviting me to dinner. I said no at first, but then he said we could go wherever I’d like. We were both nervous, but it was another nice evening. After 3 years of dating, we moved into a small house. We suddenly were going to celebrate 10 years together, and my folks wanted to take us on a cruise. The 4 of us had a wonderful time. Time flew by and finally we were one state away from marrying. We got in our car, drove 3 hours, checked into a hotel and the next morning after 25 years, we were married. We were back home by the afternoon. We sat on our patio with champagne and cake, tossing our dog his ball. I never thought when I saw this show in 1990, that later that year I’d meet the man I’d spend the rest of my life with. I feel very fortunate, and humble, and thankful. A little lucky too. You’ll never find a better man than my husband.

Fantastic as always. Donahue was always on the right side of history. It’s hard to comprehend how people (even then) wouldn’t be on the side of love. The energy that love brings is so much greater than a negative perspective.

I hope the first couple, the ones who married, had a good life together in spite of it all. The phone comments were absolutely disgusting.

Phil was wayyy ahead of the times

Watching this after so many years since its original airing, it’s good to see that there have been great steps forward with regards to equity, but unfortunately there are still way too many narrow-minded people who think just like some of the callers in this show.

Absolutely disgusting