The author attended their first gay wedding by chance while on a road trip exploring identity-based intentional communities. The author was 19 and studying these communities, which offered free lodging, for a $500 travel grant from the University of Illinois. During their visit to one such community in Nashville, the author met a couple who invited them to their wedding.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-03,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
I attended my first gay wedding in 1995.
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I → attend → 1995
I was on a summer road trip, supported by a $500 travel grant from the University of Illinois, exploring identity-based intentional communities.
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I → support → communities
Because I had so little money, the only groups I could study were the ones who offered free lodging, which generally meant pitching a tent on their lawn.
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which → have → lawn
The nice people at the Idyll Dandy Acres community outside of Nashville were happy to oblige.
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people → oblige → Nashville
“We’re Radical Fairies,” they told my friend Jeff and me.
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they → ’re → friend
The happy couple were camped next to us, two women from Britain.
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couple → camp → Britain
On the first morning, they threatened to break my acoustic guitar after I played “Mr. Tambourine Man” for the fifth time.
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I → threaten → time
Then they invited me to their wedding.
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they → invite → wedding
Was I really going to say no?
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I → go → ?
You have to understand, I was nineteen years old, an Indian kid from the western suburbs of Chicago.
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I → have → Chicago
My mom taught accounting at a community college.
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mom → teach → college
My dad owned Subway sandwich stores.
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dad → own → stores
I was supposed to get an internship where I wore a suit to work, not spend mornings picking spearmint from the garden with gay hippie pagan artists.
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I → suppose → artists
But I’d gotten Whitman in my head.
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I → get → head
Afoot and lighthearted, I had taken to the open road.
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I → take → road
Like Whitman, the road taught me “the profound lesson of reception.
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road → teach → reception
“None but are accepted,” the poet wrote.
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poet → accept → ?
“I think those are the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” I said to Jeff as we left Idle Dandy Acres and headed south.
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we → think → Acres
The next identity group to offer free lodging and the opportunity to ask questions was the Open Door community.
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group → offer → questions
“We’re Christians,” the leader Ed Loring when we knocked.
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we → ’re → ?
The Open Door community was an Evangelical institution that took seriously the Bible’s command to see Christ in the stranger’s guise—and to let him in.
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that → take → him
That is exactly what Ed Loring and his wife Murphy Davis did for decades.
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Loring → do → decades
The community was filled with people who would otherwise have been homeless.
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who → fill → people
They slept all over the house.
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They → sleep → house
Jeff and I sprawled out with them.
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Jeff → sprawl → them
I loved my week at the Open Door community.
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I → love → community
I cut carrots for the soup kitchen.
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I → cut → kitchen
I bowed my head during prayer.
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I → bow → prayer
I hummed along to hymns.
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I → hum → hymns
I listened to stories of how accepting Jesus had saved not only people’s souls but their lives.
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Jesus → listen → souls
One night, I had a conversation with Ed Loring about my own identity and my vocation.
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I → have → identity
“I’ve been paying attention to you,” Ed told me.
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Ed → pay → me
“I can see that you love helping people, and connecting with them.
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you → see → them
I’ve noticed how respectful you are during our prayer times, but I can tell you are not a Christian.
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you → notice → times
If you are interested in becoming one, I would be happy to talk to you about that.
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I → become → that
If not, I would suggest that you find the spiritual well that nourishes the work you want to do in the world.
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you → suggest → world
“Those are the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” I told Jeff as we drove away from the Open Door community.
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we → meet → community
My first long road trip lasted all summer.
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trip → last → ?
In addition to our time with the Radical Fairies community and at the Open Door community, we traveled to Catholic Worker Houses, we talked with Jews committed to Tikkun Olam and Sufi Muslims for whom whirling was a form of worship.
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whirling → travel → worship
I stopped playing “Mr. Tambourine Man” and learned other songs.
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I → stop → songs
…and 37 more, not listed.
