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Former Senator Prepares to Wed Man — At Age 90
Former Senator Prepares to Wed Man — At Age 90
Harris Wofford, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate, finds love with a man after being wed to a woman for nearly 50 years.
After losing his wife 20 years ago and then finding love -- and soon marriage -- with a man 50 years his junior, former Pennsylvania senator Harris Wofford shares his story in The New York Times.
Writing an essay entitled, "Finding Love Again, This Time With a Man," Wofford talks of the deep love and commitment he shared with his wife, Clare. Both husband and wife were committed to the cause of civil rights, with Harris Wofford working with both President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., to further racial equality.
Harris and Clare were fiercely loyal to each other, Wofford writes, and he was devastated to lose her to leukemia two decades ago.
The Democrat, who served Pennsylvania from 1991-1995, says he expected to spend the rest of his days alone. That all changed 15 years ago, when he met 25-year-old Matthew Charlton at a Fort Lauderdale beach. The two would become friends, travel the world, and then, to Wofford's surprise, fall in love.
"Twice in my life, I've felt the pull of such passionate preference," Wofford, who doesn't identify as gay, straight, or bisexual, writes. "At age 90, I am lucky to be in an era where the Supreme Court has strengthened what President Obama calls 'the dignity of marriage' by recognizing that matrimony is not based on anyone's sexual nature, choices or dreams. It is based on love."
Wofford and Charlton will marry on April 30.
