In April 2016 Shelley Anderson married her wife after having living together for thirty years. “We met at a nonviolence training for peace activists. I heard a wonderful laugh and spotted her from across the room. Then I noticed that she was wearing a bracelet with a small pink triangle. I immediately went up to her and said, “I like your bracelet.” That got her attention. She looked at me and asked, “Do you know what it means?” “Of course,” I said. We started dating soon afterwards. I won’t wear a pink triangle, because its history is appalling, but am I glad she was wearing one that day.”
For her wedding Anderson wore black jeans, a red coat, a dark vest with pink shirt and cuff links, and a burgundy coloured bow tie (TRC 2019.1614). “I’ve always felt more comfortable in shirts and trousers, which some people call men’s clothing. My feeling is, I’m a woman, so whatever I wear is automatically women’s clothing. When I was younger and had very short hair, people sometimes mistook me for a boy, until they saw I also wore earrings. Earrings meant I was a girl to them.”
Shelley Anderson in ear rings and bow tie at her wedding, 2016.Wearing a bow tie and vest to her wedding “felt mildly transgressive, which was enjoyable,” she said. “I wore a bow tie because I felt good wearing it and I loved the colour. I’ve always wanted to wear ties, but they’re complicated to knot. Bow ties are more festive and much easier to wear. Wearing a bow tie was also an homage to all the nameless people who fought for LGBTQ+ rights, often at great personal risk. The only reason my wife and I can marry is because of their fight. Our love is illegal in most countries of the world, which is unjust. Stonewall shows how ordinary people, no matter how marginalized or hated they may be, can fight and win against injustice.”