Queer: September 2002 Archives

Yup. It appears on the "Styles and Fashion" page of the paper's site. It's the first for the NYTimes and it's a nice story, so here it is.

The couple met in October 1992 in Washington, where Mr. Goldstein was working as a television news producer and Mr. Gross as a consultant. Mr. Goldstein was one of 35 respondents to a personal ad that Mr. Gross had placed in Washington City Paper. It read: "Nice Jewish boy, 5 feet 8 inches, 22, funny, well-read, dilettantish, self-deprecating, Ivy League, the kind of boy Mom fantasized about." They arranged to meet one evening at Kramerbooks & Afterwords, and had their second date the next night.

That Thanksgiving, Mr. Gross went home to visit his parents. "My mom said, `You seem like everything's great,' " he recalled. " `You seem like you're in love.' I said, `I am.' They said, `That's great.' I said, `His name is Steven.' My mother said, `Oy,' and was silent for a while."

Both sets of parents now support the relationship.

While Mr. Gross was in Thailand, Mr. Goldstein had a $1,500 telephone bill one month. They were apart again while Mr. Gross was in graduate school. Finally, in 1998, they moved to New York together.

They postponed a commitment ceremony until leaders of Reform Judaism had voted to support rabbis who perform same-sex unions and Vermont had given legal recognition to civil unions, both events in 2000.

"Sept. 11 accelerated the process," Mr. Goldstein said. "We all began to think of our own mortality."

[The print version on sunday included a double photo of the couple.]

This page is an archive of entries in the Queer category from September 2002.

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