After the death of his longtime partner in the late 1990s, Paul Ray didn’t think he would ever love again. “I gave up,” he says. “I never wanted to go through anything like that ever again.”
The Cape Cod native purchased an old RV and lived a nomadic life, taking on consulting jobs in different locales. Two years later, at the end of 1999, he traveled to Ocala to visit a friend. It was a trip that would forever change his life, as it’s when he first met his future husband.
Rob Domenico says he has the “Facebook algorithm gods” to thank for introducing him to his husband Tony Domenico.
While looking through the “People You May Know” section of the site, Rob came across Tony’s profile.
As Christopher Ellis waited for the SkyConnect to take him from Tampa International Airport’s main terminal to the gate of his California-bound flight in November 2018, he paused when he overheard a guy exiting the tram discussing “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“This piqued my interest. Being an ex-bartender at Flamingo Resort, I know some of the girls,” he says.
For Liz Lopez, networking is a way of life. The Keystone Mastermind Alliance co-founder and CEO loves to connect with new people.
That’s why when Arizona native Ruth George moved to St. Petersburg in Sept. 2011 and joined the Good Old Girl Network, a meet-up group geared toward professional lesbians, she was the first to reach out to her. “Naturally, I’m the welcome wagon,” Lopez says.
“I was feeling lucky that day and drove to Tampa to play some poker. Little did I know, I hit a jackpot and found the love of my life,” says Tish Dhumrongyud.
Tish and her wife Natassia Wekarski had met at Southern Nights Orlando in 2014, then reconnected at the Hard Rock Casino on Feb. 13.
“She offered to buy me a drink and Tito’s Vodka has forever changed our life journey,” says Rachel Covello.
Rachel was looking for a fresh start when she met Margaret Covello at Punky’s Bar. The two had connected on Facebook a few months prior and had even gone through their first argument, about politics.
“When we met and we first started flirting, in my mind I couldn’t accept that someone so sweet, so kind, and so handsome would actually take an interest in me that had NOTHING to do with politics,” says Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith.
Carlos met Jerick Mediavilla at The Venue in Orlando during an event supporting the Latinx community impacted by the Pulse shooting in 2016.
“Trixie, what do you want for 2018?” That is the question that started it all for Bill and Ed Bohannon-Dobski.
Bill was watching his Facebook friend’s live video on New Year’s Eve 2017. In the video, Ed was asked that very question and his response was “a boyfriend would be nice.”
Twyla and Pamela Avellino’s story started with friendship and trust. The couple met through the local BDSM community in Daytona Beach, which at the time was being run by Twyla, when Pamela moved to Florida in 2004.
“We became friends immediately and when a situation arose among the group, Pamela was the first person to point me to the proper legal advice to know how to handle it. Our friendship blossomed after that,” Twyla says.
“We met like most,” Dawn Greene says about meeting her wife Christye Greene. “Online. She messaged me. She had a 10-mile radius search on her profile and thankfully I had used a different city in my profile, because at the time we met we were 30 miles apart. She says I was the only girl she messaged.”
Dawn, formerly Koch, is from Boise, Idaho, and Christye is from Lexington, Ky. “I decided to take her name and am now officially Mrs. Dawn Greene,” she says. “For me that was an easy decision, as a way to close the book on my previous life and move forward with my wife.”
Jamie DeHay and husband Jay Hawkins really knew how to make an entrance to their wedding—by seaplane.
“Because the wedding venue was located on a lake and to go along with our travel theme, we arrived to the wedding by seaplane—underscored by ‘Game of Thrones’ theme music—to the surprise of the guests, who all assumed we would be coming by boat or jet ski,” says DeHay. “It was by far the most thrilling and memorable part of the wedding.”
“They say that love at first sight can be a cheesy statement,” Harmony Moorehead says. “I had always hoped for that but deep down never thought it would happen.” Then she fell head over heels for her wife, Angie. “When I stepped out of the car that day and Angie pulled me into her arms, I knew at that very second I would marry her one day.”
“It was over the whole course of that first weekend we spent together,” Angie says. “Every second was like a too-good-to-be-true moment; I just knew she was definitely my better half that had been missing.”
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Making the cookies and milk for Santa with my girls. Dec 13, 11:47 PM
Big brunch and opening stockings with my wife and my adult family on Christmas morning followed by opening gifts together... Dec 13, 4:17 PM
Tampa!!! ☺️ So much fun!!! Dec 13, 2:42 PM
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