Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge plans to marry her partner after the United States Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage earlier this week.
The Court ruled that the notorious Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional for defining marriage as “the legal union of a man and a woman”. It also declined to amend an earlier ruling that Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage within California, was unconstitutional.
Etheridge, who came out as a lesbian in 1993, now plans to marry actress and writer Linda Wallem.
She told Reuters:
“I look forward to exercising my American civil liberties and getting fully, completely and legally married this year to my true love of over three years, Linda Wallem.”
The singer and guitarist has been a keen campaigner for gay rights and actively opposed Proposition 8, which she dubbed “blatantly hateful”. When the measure was first introduced in November 2008, she threatened to stop paying her state taxes in protest.
Etheridge’s fourth album, Yes I Am, released in 1993, went platinum six times over and is her best-selling to date. The title is thought to have been a reference to her sexuality.
