They both wore ivory suits to their wedding. They sampled a cake decorated with rainbow-colored flowers and topped with two brides. After 18 years together, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson became the first gay couple to marry legally in Los Angeles County.
But like so many other marriages, theirs is now ending in divorce.
“It’s a divorce, not a gay divorce,” said Tyler, 69, the CEO of Robin Tyler International Tours and Cruises for Women. “We had a very successful, happy relationship for a long time.”
Tyler said she filed for divorce on Jan. 25, 3½ years after the couple wed on June 16, 2008. A family law hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27 in Los Angeles.
The estranged couple does not currently live together and Tyler said she doesn’t know where Olson lives. Attempts to locate Olson for comment were unsuccessful.
Tyler would not discuss the relationship but said she is “two divorces less than Newt Gingrich.”
“I’m very sad. We were domestic partners for six years now because we never dissolved it after we got married,” Tyler said. “We were in a relationship for almost 18 years and before that we were friends for 20 years. So this isn’t some sort of Kim Kardashian thing.”
She said many people had expressed surprise and disappointment that the pioneering couple had split.
“People say to me, ‘You were like the poster women for gay marriage,’ ” Tyler said. “Well, Rosa Parks was the poster child for riding on a bus, but she didn’t spend the rest of her life riding buses.”
Tyler and Olson had applied for a marriage every year since 2001, but were consistently rejected because California didn’t recognize same-sex marriages. They were two of the four original plaintiffs in the California Supreme Court lawsuit that ruled in 2008 that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional.
Several months later, California voters approved Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriages. A judge later struck down the law, which remains in the appeals process. During the six-month period that same-sex marriage was sanctioned in California, 18,000 gay couples were legally married.
“I am really glad we fought for it, I don’t regret it and I don’t regret my marriage,” Tyler said. “Fifty percent of heterosexual marriages end in divorce and we are no different than everyone else.”
Asked if she would move to another state that recognizes gay marriage, Tyler said she is not thinking of future relationships and plans to stay in Los Angeles.
“It’s a civil right to get married, and we have the right to get divorced,” Tyler said. “But because of California, I will not have the right to get married here again.”
Gay rights activist Rakefet Abergel said the divorce “just kind of proves even more that we are normal people with the same problems.”
“I’m sure they are under a ton of pressure because they were this poster marriage for the movement.” said Abergel, 32, an actress in Los Angeles.
Win Crast, another activist, doesn’t think the Tyler-Olson divorce will have any widespread effect.
“It’s hurtful for the community only in mourning for one another, otherwise I don’t think it impacts the community in any other greater way,” said Crast, 39, a television writer and producer. “I think that fighting for something as long we fought for can take its toll.”
But like so many other marriages, theirs is now ending in divorce.
“It’s a divorce, not a gay divorce,” said Tyler, 69, the CEO of Robin Tyler International Tours and Cruises for Women. “We had a very successful, happy relationship for a long time.”
Tyler said she filed for divorce on Jan. 25, 3½ years after the couple wed on June 16, 2008. A family law hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27 in Los Angeles.
The estranged couple does not currently live together and Tyler said she doesn’t know where Olson lives. Attempts to locate Olson for comment were unsuccessful.
Tyler would not discuss the relationship but said she is “two divorces less than Newt Gingrich.”
“I’m very sad. We were domestic partners for six years now because we never dissolved it after we got married,” Tyler said. “We were in a relationship for almost 18 years and before that we were friends for 20 years. So this isn’t some sort of Kim Kardashian thing.”
She said many people had expressed surprise and disappointment that the pioneering couple had split.
“People say to me, ‘You were like the poster women for gay marriage,’ ” Tyler said. “Well, Rosa Parks was the poster child for riding on a bus, but she didn’t spend the rest of her life riding buses.”
Tyler and Olson had applied for a marriage every year since 2001, but were consistently rejected because California didn’t recognize same-sex marriages. They were two of the four original plaintiffs in the California Supreme Court lawsuit that ruled in 2008 that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional.
Several months later, California voters approved Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriages. A judge later struck down the law, which remains in the appeals process. During the six-month period that same-sex marriage was sanctioned in California, 18,000 gay couples were legally married.
“I am really glad we fought for it, I don’t regret it and I don’t regret my marriage,” Tyler said. “Fifty percent of heterosexual marriages end in divorce and we are no different than everyone else.”
Asked if she would move to another state that recognizes gay marriage, Tyler said she is not thinking of future relationships and plans to stay in Los Angeles.
“It’s a civil right to get married, and we have the right to get divorced,” Tyler said. “But because of California, I will not have the right to get married here again.”
Gay rights activist Rakefet Abergel said the divorce “just kind of proves even more that we are normal people with the same problems.”
“I’m sure they are under a ton of pressure because they were this poster marriage for the movement.” said Abergel, 32, an actress in Los Angeles.
Win Crast, another activist, doesn’t think the Tyler-Olson divorce will have any widespread effect.
“It’s hurtful for the community only in mourning for one another, otherwise I don’t think it impacts the community in any other greater way,” said Crast, 39, a television writer and producer. “I think that fighting for something as long we fought for can take its toll.”
PHOTO: Nick Ut/AP
The couple at home in L.A. in November.
