Two Brides, One Wedding – Melissa Etheridge to wed lesbian lover - The Money Times

Two Brides, One Wedding – Melissa Etheridge to wed lesbian lover - The Money Times

by Bithika Khargarhia - October 2, 2008 - 0 comments

Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge has revealed Wednesday her plans to marry longtime lesbian lover, Tammy Lynn Michaels, in near future.

Like a lot of celebrity lesbian couples, Etheridge, 47, and Michaels, 33, also intend to take advantage of California Supreme Court’s decision that lifted the ban on gay marriages.

California in May became the second US state after Massachusetts to permit same-sex marriage, and thousands of homosexual couples have since tied the knot there.

Etheridge and Tammy, who have been together for years, first exchanged vows in a ceremony in Malibu in 2003, when same-sex marriages weren't legally recognized in California. Now the two want to marry again in order to make their relationship legal in California under the recently lifted ban on same-sex marriages.

The singer made her gay marriage plans public in a recent interview with celebrity gossip TV program Extra. When asked whether she’s planning to wed longtime lesbian partner Michaels, Etheridge replied, “Yes, we have four children and we’re trying to find the right time.”

"We're trying to find the right time now actually to go down and do it – (that) is where we're at," Etheridge told to Extra at Universal City's Hard Rock Cafe, where she performed to launch Pinktober, the restaurant's breast cancer awareness program. The singer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.

In a landmark ruling in May, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. In a broadly worded decision, the court declared at the time that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends equally to gay couples.

However, an anti-gay marriage ballot, Prop. 8, will be held in California in November. If approved, the ballot initiative would overturn the state Supreme Court decision to lift the ban on same-sex marriages.

With marriage plans in hands, Etheridge and her actress girlfriend Michaels will join a growing list of celebrity lesbian couples who either have tied the holy knot with their same-sex partners or are planning to marry.

In August, Popular TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres married her longtime actress girlfriend, Portia de Rossi, at their Los Angeles home, becoming the first high-profile lesbian couple to exchange vows.

Last month, Japanese-American actor George Takei, better known as Star Trek's Mr Sulu, has married his longtime partner Brad Altman.

There are rumors that after their long lesbian romance, Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson are planning to wed by the end of this year.

Etheridge and Tammy together have baby twins of only two years, son Miller Steven and daughter Johnnie Rose, who Tammy delivered in October 2006. Etheridge has two more children, daughter Bailey Jean (born in 1997 and son Beckett (born in 1998), from a previous relationship with Julie Cypher, who conceived via artificial insemination using a sperm donation from rock legend David Crosby